Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next. The software giant on Monday revealed an upgraded version of Copilot, its AI assistant, as it confronts heightened competition from Big Tech rivals in pitching generative AI technology that can compose documents, make images and serve as a lifelike personal assistant at work or home.
Quick Read
- Microsoft Enhances AI Capabilities: Microsoft announced an upgrade to Copilot, its AI chatbot, designed to remember everything a user does on their PC, aiming to predict and assist with future tasks.
- Windows Recall Feature: The new feature, Windows Recall, allows the AI to access and recall all user activities on the PC, akin to having a photographic memory, with privacy options to control tracking.
- Integration into Windows: These AI enhancements are being integrated directly into the Windows operating system, which is widely used across millions of personal computers.
- Privacy and Control: Microsoft emphasizes user privacy by allowing individuals to filter and control what information the AI can track and remember.
- Competition in AI Space: This move comes as Microsoft faces increasing competition from other tech giants like Google and OpenAI, each expanding their AI offerings.
- AI in Consumer Products: Google and OpenAI also recently announced significant updates, with Google enhancing its search engine and OpenAI updating ChatGPT with more human-like interactions.
- Apple’s Upcoming Developments: Apple is expected to reveal its advancements in AI at its own developers conference in June, following hints of significant investments in generative AI by CEO Tim Cook.
- Availability: The AI-enhanced features in Windows will start rolling out on June 18 in premium PC models from Microsoft and partners, with prices starting at $999.
The Associated Press has the story:
Microsoft’s AI chatbot will ‘recall’ everything you do on a PC
Newslooks- REDMOND, Wash. (AP) —
Microsoft wants laptop users to get so comfortable with its artificial intelligence chatbot that it will remember everything you’re doing on your computer and help figure out what you want to do next. The software giant on Monday revealed an upgraded version of Copilot, its AI assistant, as it confronts heightened competition from Big Tech rivals in pitching generative AI technology that can compose documents, make images and serve as a lifelike personal assistant at work or home.
The announcements ahead of Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference in Seattle centered on imbuing AI features into a product where Microsoft already has the eyes of millions of consumers: the Windows operating system for personal computers.
The new features will include Windows Recall, enabling the AI assistant to “access virtually what you have seen or done on your PC in a way that feels like having photographic memory.” Microsoft promises to protect users’ privacy by giving them the option to filter out what they don’t want tracked.
The conference follows big AI announcements last week from rival Google, as well as Microsoft’s close business partner OpenAI, which built the AI large language models on which Microsoft’s Copilot is based.
Google rolled out a retooled search engine that periodically puts AI-generated summaries over website links at the top of the results page; while also showing off a still-in-development AI assistant Astra that will be able to “see” and converse about things shown through a smartphone’s camera lens.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI unveiled a new version of its chatbot last week, demonstrating an AI voice assistant with human characteristics that can banter about what someone’s wearing and even attempt to assess a person’s emotions. The voice sounded so much like Scarlett Johansson playing an AI character in the sci-fi movie “Her” that OpenAI dropped the voice from its collection Monday.
OpenAI also rolled out a new desktop version of ChatGPT designed for Apple’s Mac computers.
Next up is Apple’s own annual developers conference in June. Apple CEO Tim Cook signaled at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in February that it has been making big investments in generative AI.
Some of Microsoft’s announcements Monday appeared designed to blunt whatever Apple has in store. The newly AI-enhanced Windows PCs will start rolling out on June 18 on computers made by Microsoft partners Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung, as well as on Microsoft’s Surface line of devices. But they’ll be reserved for premium models starting at $999.
