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Not content to play second fiddle to its investment, partner, and apparent competitor OpenAI which is holding its second “DevDay” today, Microsoft announced its own series of major AI updates to its Copilot chatbot, Windows 11 operating system, and Bing search engine.
With few exceptions, the updates all leverage AI in an effort to create a more personalized and powerful experience for users, from AI generated search results to AI conversational voice interfaces and AI-powered suggestions for actions to take next.
As Microsoft rolls out these updates, the company says privacy and responsible AI remain central to the company’s vision — following the rapping it took from security experts and users earlier this year after its constantly screenshotting Windows 11 Recall feature was poorly received.
Here’s a rundown of what Microsoft announced today:
Copilot can now talk to you and watch your screen
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Microsoft’s Copilot, initially launched as Bing Chat back in February 2023 before being rebranded in November 2023, has been updated with a conversational voice mode and the ability to watch a user’s activity alongside their screen — with their permission and opt-in consent, of course, launched from the Microsoft Edge web browser and a new program called Copilot Labs (reminiscent of Google’s Search Labs and Gmail Labs products), but which is only available to Copilot Pro subscribers ($20 per month).
As Microsoft revealed in a blog post today: “Before releasing our most advanced tools to all users, we are trialing them for a small subset to gather feedback, learn, and then applying these lessons back into the product – making them at once, we hope, better and safer. Available to Copilot Pro users, think of it as offering a glimpse into “work-in-progress” projects just around the corner.”
Mustafa Suleyman, the controversial former Google DeepMinder and current Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft AI, posted on X: “I truly believe we can deliver a calmer, more helpful and supportive era of technology, with a Copilot that is now more intuitive, more personalized, and secure. Learn more, download, and enjoy. At Microsoft AI, w …