Windows 11's new update will add a bunch of AI features
Microsoft is releasing several new AI features for Windows 11, including its Copilot Vision tool that can scan everything on your screen. The features, which are gradually rolling out to everyone now, also include tools that are exclusive to Copilot Plus PCs.
For starters, all Windows 11 users can now access Copilot Vision through the Copilot app, which uses AI to analyze the content on your screen. With the tool, you can ask questions aloud about what you're seeing across multiple apps and webpages that are open on your screen. You can also ask it how to complete specific tasks on your computer, like how to improve the lighting on a photo. Microsoft first began testing a more limited form of this feature last year.
Additionally, users with Snapdragon-powered Copilot Plus PCs can access an AI-powered 'agent' within the Settings app. This allows you to search for a specific setting with natural language, such as 'I want to enable quiet hours' or 'connect Bluetooth device.' If the agent is capable of carrying out the task, it will offer to complete it on your behalf.
Microsoft is making its AI-powered 'Click to Do' preview more useful on Copilot Plus PCs, too. This feature, which surfaces when users hold down the Windows key and left-click on an app, text, website, or other piece of content, is designed to help you quickly complete actions, like summarizing a highlighted paragraph. As part of its update, Microsoft is rolling out several new actions you can perform with Click to Do, including practicing reading fluency and pronunciation with its Reading Coach tool, drafting a document in Microsoft Word using Copilot, and scheduling a Teams meeting.
Click to Do lets you quickly perform actions, like summarize text. Image: Microsoft
Other features coming only to Copilot Plus PCs include a new AI-powered sticker generator in Paint and an object select tool in the app that lets you separate and edit specific parts of an image. There's also a new AI lighting option available in Photos for Snapdragon-equipped Copilot Plus PCs, along with a 'perfect screenshot' tool within the Snipping Tool that uses AI to 'precisely capture content on your screen.'
Copilot Plus PC users will find a new. AI object select tool in their Paint toolbar. Image: Microsoft
Microsoft is also releasing some features that aren't related to AI across all Windows 11 PCs, including a handy color picker within the Snipping Tool and a new mechanism that allows PCs to automatically fix issues causing unexpected restarts.
Microsoft says it will roll out all of these features 'over the next month.' Some of them are already available in Windows' new non-security preview update and as updates that you can download in the Microsoft Store.
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