Microsoft will give its Copilot artificial intelligence system direct access to local PC files and the ability to carry out actions across the Windows operating system, TechCrunch reported. The company revealed the upgrade at its Windows and Surface hardware event on Wednesday.
Jacob Andreou, Microsoft's executive vice president of Copilot, demonstrated the system onstage through a video demo of Microsoft's Autopilot tool handling a tax filing task. The software operates under an approach Microsoft calls Hybrid Intelligence, in which tools and applications rely on a mix of local and cloud artificial intelligence models to complete tasks efficiently. During the presentation, Andreou told the agent that he received an email from his accountant and instructed Autopilot to get her what she needs. Autopilot used Hybrid Intelligence to search across different folders, locate the documents, rename the files, compress them into a zip archive, and draft an email to the accountant with the zip file attached.
Andreou said features powered by Hybrid Intelligence will arrive in Copilot over the next couple months.
Windows and Surface boss Pavan Davuluri announced a separate update to the Windows search bar, which will be available starting this fall on Windows 11 computers. The new experience allows users to take quick actions directly from the search bar rather than opening dedicated settings. Those options include turning on dark mode, adjusting microphone volume with an in-line slider, and sending a text message.
