Even though your PC may not currently have a Copilot key on the keyboard, if you run Windows 11, you will soon be able to utilize Copilot for a lot more common desktop operations. Microsoft is now adding features to Copilot that will let it adjust additional Windows 11 settings for you, as well as plugins for OpenTable, Shopify, and Kayak, among other services. Along with small improvements to widgets (which no one uses, but Microsoft is still working on) and Windows snap, which lets you arrange your different application windows, there are also new AI editing integrations into default apps like Clipchamp and Photos.

The updated skills will be available by the end of March. You can use those to do things like display your IP address, clear your recycling bin, start live captioning and the text-to-speech Narrator, show device, system, and battery information, and turn on and off your power saver.

Although these particular capabilities aren’t very fascinating in and of themselves, they do portend a time when the Copilot will truly live up to its name and be able to take care of more difficult PC duties automatically. Although Microsoft appears to be aiming for a general PC copilot that can launch and manage applications on your device for you, or even replace some of those apps entirely, many of the AI device trials we’ve seen in recent months have centered on mobile.

The new plugins are useful in this regard as well. Bookings for restaurants using OpenTable, trips via Kayak, and a Shopify integration are only the beginning in this regard. The next month will see the release of these features.

Microsoft is currently adding more AI capabilities to its current Windows apps at the same time. First, the Photos app contains a generative erase tool that is similar to what Google has long supported in Google Photos on mobile devices (although it is not quite as strong as the generative fill option in Photoshop). The second is a tool in the Clipchamps video editor that automatically takes off quiet from videos. This functionality can be accessed now.

Topics #AI #Artificial intelligence #Copilot #Microsoft #news #Windows #Windows 11 #Windows 11 Copilot