A few weeks ago, Microsoft made some concrete promises about fixing and improving Windows, and among them was removing useless “AI” integrations. Applications like Notepad, Snipping Tool, and others would see their “AI” features removed. Well, it turns out Microsoft employs a very fringe definition of the concept.
Microsoft seems to have stripped away mentions of the “Copilot” brand in the Windows Insider version of the Notepad app. The Copilot button in the toolbar is gone, and instead, you’ll find a writing icon which will present you AI-powered writing assistance, such as rewrite, summarize, tone modification, format configuration, and more. Additionally, “AI features” in Notepad settings has been renamed to “Advanced features” and it allows users to toggle off AI capabilities within the app.
↫ Usama Jawad at Neowin
If the recent changes to Notepad are any indication, it seems Microsoft is, actually, not at all going to “reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points”, as they worded it, but is merely just going to rename these features so they aren’t so ostentatiously present. At least, that seems to be the plan for Notepad, and we’ll have to see if they have the same plans for the other applications. I mean, they have to push “AI” or look like fools.
I just don’t understand how a company like Microsoft can be so utterly terrible at communication. While I personally would want all “AI” features yeeted straight from Windows, I’m sure a ton of people are just fine with the features being less in-your-face and stuffed inside a normal menu alongside all the other normal features. They could’ve just been honest about their intentions, and it would’ve been so much better.
Like virtually every other technology company, Microsoft just seems incapable of not lying.
Honestly, did you believe them?