How to use Windows 11 Copilot AI? It's still a bit weird, but you can try it now. You can't miss Microsoft's attempts to embed generative AI into almost everything it produces, from Bing search to the Windows operating system. And so on: The latest update for Windows 11 has made Copilot available to all users.
If you're new to Copilot, it's a lot like the AI you can chat with via Bing search, with a few Windows-specific features: the ability to launch apps or manage screenshots pasted to the clipboard, for example.
In the feature's announcement, Microsoft says Copilot will "uniquely combine the context and intelligence of the web, your business data, and what you're currently doing on your computer to provide better assistance." However, it's worth keeping in mind that it's still early days for this tool, so you won't be able to delegate all – or even most – of your computing tasks to it yet. With that in mind, here's how to get started.
How to use Windows 11 Copilot AI? Start Copilot
Before we get started, you probably want to make sure you're running the latest version of Windows 11: Copilot is part of the September 2023 Windows update.
- Open Settings and then select Windows Update.
- Depending on where you are geographically and how far down your computer is on Microsoft's update list, you may need to enable the Get the latest updates as soon as they're available toggle.
Click the Copilot button on the taskbar or press Win + C on the keyboard to launch Copilot, which appears in a panel on the right side of your screen.
Meanwhile, if you'd prefer Copilot not to appear on the taskbar, in Settings go to Personalization > Taskbar and then turn Copilot off.
How to use Copilot AI to control Windows?
Don't expect too much from Copilot's Windows integration just yet: at the time of this writing, it's still labeled as a "preview" feature. Here are some cool little tricks I can do with it:
- Type “turn on dark mode” to switch to Windows dark mode.
- Type “Open Windows Settings” to open the main Settings panel.
- Type “Launch File Explorer” to start browsing the files on your computer.
Still, even these integrations aren't very capable. In any case, you have to click Yes to confirm the action you want to perform, and even then, Copilot will continue to chatter about what it's about to do (even if it's already done it) before asking again if you want to perform the action. And a side note: at least one of my colleagues reported that even this didn't work for him – when he asked Copilot to launch File Explorer, it said it couldn't do it. Your results may be different.
Something that works more smoothly is typing “take screenshot” – this launches the Snipping Tool (just like pressing the PrtSc key does), no questions asked. Asking Copilot to “change wallpaper” also works because it takes you directly to the Personalization page in Settings without any additional prompts.
There is still a long way to go when it comes to integration with other Windows applications. For example, when you ask Copilot to “duplicate a slide” in PowerPoint, it will tell you how to do it (with instructions from Bing) rather than actually doing it. When you tell the bot to “prepare a presentation about the benefits of Copilot” it just produces generic AI chatter like “start with a slide that introduces the topic and the main points you want to cover” – yes, thank you for that, Copilot.
Of course, Microsoft apps, including PowerPoint, will get their own Copilot integrations in the near future, but these features aren't live for individuals and smaller organizations just yet. They will come with an additional fee.
Co-pilot and everything else
If you've used ChatGPT, Bing Chat (based on similar technology as ChatGPT), Google Bard, or any of the other AI text tools that have popped up in recent months, you'll have a good idea of what else you can do with Copilot on Windows.
You can ask him to write poetry, predict fashion trends, compare smartphones with each other, come up with ideas for a children's party, explain difficult concepts in simple language, come up with a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and more.
To start a new chat with Copilot, click the three dots at the top of the panel and then select Refresh. In addition to removing what was there before, this will give you some suggestions about what you might want to ask: maybe you want it to generate some C code, or you need gift ideas for a certain type of friend.
When you start a new Copilot conversation, you can choose from More Creative, More Balanced, and More Precise, which are already available in Bing Chat on the web. In other words, you can sacrifice some accuracy if you want more creative answers. There is also a microphone icon in the bottom right corner, you can click this icon if you prefer to speak out loud instead of typing your commands.
There's only one setting in Copilot right now, but it's an important one and you can find it by clicking the three dots at the top of the panel and selecting Settings. On Windows it is Allow Copilot to use Microsoft Edge content and essentially allows Copilot to “see” what you are looking at in Edge.
For example, you might ask him to summarize a news article or explain some terms on a page. You can even ask about images on a website – for example, what they show. However, this feature seemed a bit hit or miss in our tests, with Copilot occasionally receiving incorrect answers or failing to display content at all.
Finally, you can also give Copilot images to work with. Click the square icon in the lower left corner of the input box and you'll be prompted to select an image from your system or link to an image on the web. Once this is complete, you can ask Copilot to identify what is in the image or find other similar images on the web.
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