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Some users will find Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot is suddenly a lot more helpful
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Microsoft has made a big change to its Bing AI for one of the modes of the chatbot’s operation, namely the ‘Precise’ mode.

As users of the AI will be aware, there are three modes that can be selected for the Bing AI: the mentioned Precise setting, as well as Balanced, and Creative.

Precise mode is for those who want shorter and more factual answers in their dealings with the AI, whereas Creative lets the chatbot more off the leash in terms of replies (and Balanced strikes a compromise between these two ends of the freedom spectrum, as it were).

According to Mikhail Parakhin, head of Advertising and Web Services at Microsoft, the company has finished rolling out a “pretty big update” for the Precise mode.

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As Parakhin explained on X (formerly Twitter), this doesn’t entail introducing new features for Precise mode, just ensuring that the chatbot gives better answers with this setting.

Analysis: Pushing forward for a better Bing bot

Delivering better answers is, of course, one of the most effective ways Microsoft can improve its Bing AI. As Parakhin observes in the above tweet, the polishing of Precise mode has been noted by some users, even if they’ve framed it as ‘Creative is worse, and Precise is better than it now’, rather than it being a positive step forward for Precise. Which it definitely is, we shouldn’t need to add.

There’s another way that Microsoft is working on making Bing AI’s responses better, and that’s a ‘no search’ parameter. This is something that’s been mentioned in the past which will allow users to cut off the chatbot from the web (search functions) when formulating an answer.

In other words, you’ll be getting a direct answer from the AI (as opposed to one informed by search content derived from the web), and that could be useful in certain situations (like queries about coding, for example). It’ll also mean that responses should be swifter, too, without having to scrape the web for extra bits of data.

So what’s happening with the ‘no search’ function? Apparently, it’s going to be implemented as a plug-in, rather than directly into Bing AI, and is still inbound according to Parakhin (and will happen as part of the general plug-in rollout). Hat tip to Neowin for spotting that one.

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Windows 11 update coming today will finally persuade me to upgrade – but not because of Copilot
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Windows 11’s next big update – not the annual one for 2023, mind, that comes later – is rolling out today, and there’s some buzz on the rumor mill about what will be included with this upgrade.

PhantomOfEarth, a regular leaker on X (formerly Twitter) with their ear to the ground on all things Windows, pointed out what else is coming with the September 26 update (later today).

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Of course, it’s already known that the star of the show is set to be the Copilot AI. However, as tweeted, there’s another big piece of the jigsaw – at least for me, and a good few other folks – coming in the form of the option to never combine on the taskbar.

That’s the choice for the taskbar that you get with Windows 10 to tell the operating system not to stack up (combine) windows of the same application. (So, for example, if you have multiple browser windows open, they won’t all be lumped into the same entry on the taskbar, stacked up – with never combine, they remain separate icons on the bar).

PhantomOfEarth also clarified that another useful trick is coming for the taskbar, namely the ability to right-click on an app on the bar and end the task right there. Oh, and also the feature to hide the time and date from the taskbar should you wish.

And the new volume mixer, which offers fresh functionality including adjusting the volume of programs that are running on a per-app basis, is also set to roll out with the September 26 update later today.

Analysis: A winning never-combination

Of course, the centerpiece for this update – which is technically Moment 4 for Windows 11 22H2, with the 23H2 update to come later in the year, in Q4 – is undoubtedly Copilot. The introduction of the AI assistant to Windows 11 is, of course, a huge move, and one which may work out better than I anticipate. (I still feel it’s jumping the gun a little, but I’m ready – and happy – to be proven wrong).

For me, though, I’ve been holding back on upgrading to Windows 11 because of the lack of that feature to keep apps on the taskbar separate. That might sound a bit petty, but I have a workflow within Windows, and it involves never combining on the taskbar, and having that option stripped away is just too annoying, and jarring, for my fundamental way of working with the OS.

I couldn’t really believe it when Microsoft removed this choice with Windows 11 – apparently fiddly bits deep within the interface meant it wasn’t a simple implementation for the newer OS, or that’s what the software giant told us.

So, I’ve refrained from upgrading, until now – but with this new feature in place, I’ll be hitting the upgrade button straight away, with a caveat though. That being I’ll fire up the upgrade on my Surface (second PC) first, before my main desktop rig. But the latter will come soon enough (unless I find other things to hate about Windows 11, when I actually get into using it properly – perish the thought, naturally).

Anyway, it’s good to see that there’s a lot of stuff imminent for Windows 11, even if that does leave me scratching my head a bit as to what’s left for the 23H2 update, which at this point feels more minor than this ‘Moment’ (supposedly smaller than annual) upgrade.

So, that’s all a little confusing, but hey – I’m not going to argue about getting super-important features quicker, that’s for sure (though I wouldn’t say never combine has been exactly ‘quick’ off the mark, of course).

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ChatGPT can now look at pictures and tell you a bedtime story in five different voices
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ChatGPT can now hear, see and speak, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for how we interact with AI chatbots. The new capabilities unlock the ability to have a voice conversation with ChatGPT, or physically show the bot what you’re talking about. 

According to the official OpenAI blog post, you’ll soon be able to show the bot pictures of a landmark while on holiday and have a conversation about the history behind the structure. You could also send the bot a photo of your fridge contents and have it whip up a potential recipe.  

The new features will be rolling out to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise users first over the next few weeks. Voice is coming to iOS and Android apps, and images will be available across platforms. As with most ChatGPT features, users who aren’t subscribed to the Plus platform will likely see the features a little later. 

ChatGPT talks back

The blog post notes that you’ll now be able to engage in back-and-forth conversations with your AI assistant on the go via the phone app. From what we can tell it would be a similar experience to how you’d speak to Siri or Amazon Alexa. 

The video example on the blog post shows off a stylish user interface with a voice asking ChatGPT to tell a bedtime story, with the user interrupting every so often to ask questions. 

Regardless of how you might feel about the technology it’s still very impressive. We’ll have to wait to see if real conversations match up with the seamless example in the video, but if they do, Siri and Amazon Alexa have a lot to be worried about. If I can access a talkative, intelligent chatbot like ChatGPT, which looks at pictures and can go into depth about topics without pause, why would I ever use any other virtual assistants? 

If you’re a Plus subscriber, head over to Settings, click ‘New Features’ on the mobile app and opt into voice conversations. You’ll be able to choose your favorite voice out of five different options: Sky, Cove, Ember, Breeze and Juniper, and you can listen to each one over on the official site.

Sight for sore eyes

ChatGPT can also now look at more than one image as well. You can show graphs that need analyzing, get help with homework or just show a rough draft of work you’d like feedback on, but can’t be bothered to type out. 

If you want it to focus on something specific in the photo, you can use the new drawing tool within the ChatGPT app and circle exactly what you want the bot to concentrate on. 

While this is scarily impressive for a generative AI chatbot, there are concerns that immediately spring to mind upon hearing about the new features. 

OpenAI does acknowledge these concerns at the bottom of the announcement, stating that with new features come new challenges, including hallucinations – basically an incorrect response given by an AI bot but delivered with confidence – and the possibility of the voice capabilities that impersonate public figures or commit fraud. 

In order to combat this, OpenAI states that Voice Chat was created with real voice actors, and the image input feature was tested with rosh domains in extremism and scientific proficiency, to “align key features for responsible usage”.  

We’re so incredibly buzzed to try out the new features, especially the ability to chat directly to ChatGPT and probe its mind. We’re also keen to see how this will ripple down to other products like Bing AI, Google Bard and even Meta’s budding AI project. As ChatGPT is an AI trailblazer, introducing new features like this will mean everyone else will have to catch up.

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Meta is planning on introducing dozens of chatbot personas – including a Futurama favourite
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Meta is gearing up to announce a generative artificial intelligence chatbot (internally dubbed as ‘Gen AI Personas’) that is aimed at enticing younger users to the world of AI chatbots. The new chatbot is expected to launch during Meta’s Connect event on September 27, and will introduce some familiar but… dated ‘personas’. 

The Verge notes that the chatbots will come with different personas that will promote more humanlike, engaging conversations to appeal to younger users.  One of the ‘sassy’ robot personas is inspired by Bender from Futurama and Alvin the Alien.  

Meta is planning to add “dozens” of familiar faces to its chatbot roster and even plans on creating a tool that will enable celebrities to make their own chatbots for their fans. This is good news, as I could finally talk to Beyonce.

How do you do, fellow kids? 

Meta is clearly putting a lot of time and effort into perfecting its chatbot game in the budding world of AI. We all remember Snapchat AI, which rose to fame for about a week and then quickly fizzled out into obscurity.  

Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal reached out to former Snap and Instagram executive Meghana Dhar, who noted that chatbots don’t “scream Gen Z to me, but definitely, Gen Z is much more comfortable” with new technology. She also adds that Meta’s goal with the chatbots is likely to be to keep them engaged for longer so it has “increased opportunity to serve them ads.”

That would explain the rather random selection of ‘young people’ personas that Meta is going for. While Bender from Futurama is pretty recognizable, he’s not exactly a Gen Z icon. As someone from the demographic Meta seems to be targeting, it’s an extremely odd celebrity to slap onto your product, considering there’s a plethora of other (more relevant) personalities to choose from. 

The advantage Meta has in picking Gen Z as its target demographic is that Gen Z is very public about who they are super into right now. Meta could have picked literally anyone else, so hopefully the other personalities it has up its sleeve are a bit more … contemporary. 

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Microsoft clarifies Windows 11 23H2 update isn’t arriving next week
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Earlier this week, Microsoft made a big announcement about the launch of its Copilot AI in Windows 11 which is happening with an update next week – but in case you were wondering, this isn’t the 23H2 update.

It is a big update to Windows 11, for sure, just not the annual update for 2023, which will arrive for the OS later, in fact.

As Neowin spotted, Microsoft made the clarification in a blog post following the announcement of the launch of Copilot.

The Copilot update will arrive as part of a rollout kicking off on September 26, and Microsoft said it will “later be included in Windows 11, version 23H2, the annual feature update for Windows 11.”

The 23H2 update won’t be released until Q4 of 2023, though, we’re told, which means it won’t begin to filter out until October at the earliest, and possibly not until later than that.

Analysis: A useful clarification

It’s a useful clarification from Microsoft, and we have to admit, we figured when the software giant talked about a big update coming next week, we assumed this would be the 23H2 update. That’s not the case, after all, but Copilot will be the biggest change to Windows 11 this year, so it’s easy enough to see how the confusion arose.

Still, we know where we stand now, and this won’t affect who gets Copilot next week – presumably those who have ticked the box to get the latest updates for Windows 11 as soon as they’re available.

As to how Copilot will turn out in its initial incarnation, well, we’re still a little dubious about that – though some first impressions we were treated to were positive, no doubt.

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From hype to hibernation – what happened to the NFT crypto art craze?
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Three years in, and the 2020s are already shaping up to be a decade to remember, producing plenty of fads such as the cryptocurrency phenomenon and NFTs. 

NFT stands for “non-fungible token” which doesn’t help clarify a whole lot. But, what happened to them?

NFTs are actually unique digital entities which exist on a blockchain during its circulation. A blockchain is an ongoing ledger which contains lists of records of uniquely identifiable digital entities like crypto coins and NFTs. That’s the “non-fungible” part of the term, meaning it can’t be replicated (which itself is debatable to those of us that appreciate the screenshot function).

They came to the public attention and enjoyed huge popularity in 2021 and 2022. You may even have heard of Bored Ape NFTs, a collection of digital illustrations depicting, you guessed it, apes in a variety of seemingly random costumes. There was a sort of mini gold rush, especially after the explosion of Bored Ape NFTs, to launch the next must-have collection. 

Those digital drawings could really get up there in price, and collectors tried to push them as the next evolution of art. Everydays: the First 5000 Days by Beeple sold for $ 69.3m to a single owner and The Merge by Pak was sold for $ 91.8m to 30,000 collectors that pooled their funds together, according to Dextero. 

The economy NFTs created has sparked plenty of debate about the social, societal, and artistic merits of the scene. 

Opera Crypto browser showing NFT

(Image credit: Opera)

A rude awakening after the daydream

Unfortunately (well, for the people who spent a fortune on them), it looks like NFTs haven’t become the next great art movement, and even celebs and other investors that championed NFTs have lost millions after buying them. 

Now, a study by dappGambl, a community of blockchain enthusiasts that discuss aspects of the crypto market like crypto gambling, has put out an extensive report that claims that the NFT market has crashed. According to dappGambl, the “vast majority” of NFTs are now worthless. 

The study looked at more than 73,000 NFT collections, and the results showed that nearly 70,000 of those (almost 96%) were valued at 0 ETH. ETH is short for Ethereum, the second biggest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. However, zero times anything is still zero. 

According to dappGambl, the “vast majority” of NFTs are now worthless.

Beyond that, the study goes on to claim that over 79% of NFT collections were never sold in the first place. The market phrase that Dextero (and other outlets) are using is “demand is outstripping supply” which is a jargon-y way of saying most NFTs aren’t worth very much at all, much to their creators’ dismay. 

Dextero does try to throw NFT creators a bone by providing a counter to the study’s claim, saying that dappGambl’s analysis might be skewed as anyone can mint an NFT or a whole collection of NFTs. 

It seems they’re implying that the sample of 73,000 could include a large number of these everyday-person-minted NFTs, which are not very attractive to buyers.

Anna Tarazevich | Pexels; Bei der Wahl der idealen Krypto-Börse sind so einige Faktoren von großer Bedeutung.

(Image credit: Anna Tarazevich | Pexels)

But what if you look at the “top” NFTs? dappGambl also analyzed the top 8,850 NFT collections according to CoinMarketCap, a top cryptocurrency price-tracking app. It found that 18% of these collections are valued at the floor price of $ 0. 

Meanwhile, 41% are “modestly priced” in the range of $ 5 to $ 100. Less than 1% of the analyzed NFTs hold a price of over $ 6,000. If you compare that to some of the eye-catching big-ticket sales of NFTs’ heyday, it’s quite a tumble. 

Dextero reports that throughout 2021 and 2022, the NFT market was trading at above $ 2 billion a month. That has fallen to $ 80 million, which considering the distribution of values that dappGambl suggests, it still means a pretty large volume of NFTs being traded. Just that they’re not worth a great deal individually. 

What happens next? (Who knows?)

Trying to predict if this is NFTs’ swan song is hard, but things don’t look so hot at the moment and it’s unclear if they’ll ever pick up steam again. Bitcoin has seen huge rises and falls in price, and NFTs might have a similar up-and-down pattern, too. 

In any case, if you invested in any NFTs, it would perhaps be wise to check how they’re doing price-wise and if they hold any value, and perhaps sell them while you can still get some money for them. 

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YouTube reveals powerful new AI tools for content creators – and we’re scared, frankly
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YouTube has announced a whole bunch of AI-powered tools (on top of its existing bits and pieces) that are designed to make life easier for content creators on the platform.

As The Verge spotted, at the ‘Made on YouTube’ event which just took place, one of the big AI revelations made was something called ‘Dream Screen’, an image and video generation facility for YouTube Shorts.

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This lets a video creator just type in something that they’d like for a background. Such as, for example, a panda drinking a cup of coffee – given that request, the AI will take the reins and produce such a video background for the clip (or image).

This is how the process will be implemented to begin with – you prompt the AI, and it makes something for you – but eventually, creators will be able to remix content to produce something new, we’re told.

YouTube Studio is also getting an infusion of AI tools that will suggest content that could be made by individual creators, generating topic ideas for videos that might suit them, based on what’s trending with viewers interested in the kind of content that creator normally deals in.

A system of AI-powered music recommendations will also come into play to furnish audio for any given video.

Analysis: Grab the shovel?

Is it us, or does this sound rather scary? Okay, so content creators may find it useful and convenient to be able to drop in AI generated video or image backgrounds really quickly, and have some music layered on top, and so on.

But isn’t this going to just ensure a whole heap of bland – and perhaps homogenous – content flooding onto YouTube? That seems the obvious danger, and maybe one compounded by the broader idea of suggested content that people want to see (according to the great YouTube algorithm) being provided to creators on YouTube.

Is YouTube set to become a video platform groaning under the collective weight of content that gets quickly put together, thanks to AI tools, and shoveled out by the half-ton?

While YouTube seems highly excited about all these new AI utilities and tools, we can’t help but think it’s the beginning of the end for the video site – at least when it comes to meaningful, not generic, content.

We hope we’re wrong, but this whole brave new direction fills us with trepidation more than anything else. A tidal wave of AI-generated this, that, and the other, eclipsing everything else is clearly a prospect that should be heavily guarded against.

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Windows Copilot might be the biggest change Microsoft has ever made to its long-running OS
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Clippy, that helpful paperclip sprite that used to watch your work in Microsoft Word and do its best to help you, was never that smart, or even that deeply integrated with Microsoft's popular computing platform.

Now imagine if Clippy got a brain and body transplant that made it a true genius and then hooked it into the deepest parts of Windows 11. That's Windows Copilot, which was among the big reveals at Microsoft's 2023 Surface Event.

Microsoft showed off a lot of Copilot demos during its packed AI and Surface launch event, but it wasn't until I got an up-close and personal demo of the Copilot preview in action on a Windows 11 system that I truly understood it and the ramifications for the next generation of Windows 11 users.

When the Windows 11 update arrives on September 26, it will bring with it the Copilot preview. Microsoft tells me that it will work with every PC that supports Windows 11.

To be clear, Copilot is not an app. It's marginally a utility. It's more like the voice inside Windows 11 head, a consciousness that is fully aware of everything Windows 11 can do, and much of what you're doing on Windows 11.

Copilot combines all of Microsoft's best AI work to date. It can bring a large language model (LLM) to understand text, and context, and produce fresh text. It integrates Bing Chat to make it conversational (and also supports voice, though I did not see that in my demos).

Two things, though, make Copilot feel like a true part of the Windows 11 experience. The first is, crucially, that Windows 11 copy and paste triggers Copilot, basically waking it up to the possibility of working directly with you.

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Windows 11 Copilot

(Image credit: Future)
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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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In the demo I saw, we opened a Word document full of a massive list of things to do in New York City – there's nothing like a sea of gray text to make the eyes glaze over.

Copilot isn't pushy like Clippy. It didn't pop up immediately asking if it could help. Instead, copying the text set it off.

The fact that Copilot can see that you're performing one of the most fundamental Windows 11 tasks, and using that action to help you, is a big deal. Once Copilot sees the clipboard text, it politely asks if you want to use that text to chat. Once we did that, Copilot's chat asked what we wanted to do with it (Revise, Summarize, Expand, Explain). You can be quite specific in your requests, so we asked for distances between Tribeca and our hotel.

Copilot is deep inside Windows, but it's not shut out from the outside. As with Bing Chat, Copilot sources the web for answers. In fact, it synthesizes the best answers and then, yes, provides citations and links for it all.

Copilot tries to be extra helpful by going beyond the initial request. In this instance, it also quickly served up some local attractions.

The other thing that tells you Copilot isn't simply a plugin or add-on is that it has its own invoke and dismiss key combo: You use the Windows button and 'c.'

In my opinion, you don't get the keys unless you're part of Windows and not just a temporary tenant.

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Windows 11 Copilot

(Image credit: Future)
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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Other demos further solidified my belief that this is not your father's Windows 11.

When we dragged a food photo from Outlook into the chat windows, Copilot asked what we wanted to do with it. We requested instructions on how to make the unidentified dish. It took a moment (Copilot preview isn't always that fast) for it to identify it as Shashuka, and then offer detailed instructions on how to cook it.

Copilot further demonstrated its integration by working seamlessly with Windows Snip (which always sends snipped images to the clipboard). We snipped a math problem image and, naturally, when we asked, Copilot helped us solve it.

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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Windows 11 Copilot

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When we told Copilot we wanted to know how to focus at work, it used its platform integration to help guide us through Windows 11's Focus settings.

Copilot can be used for the most prosaic of Windows tasks, as well. Our demo desktop was getting a little cluttered, so we asked Copilot to “snap my windows.” It quickly organized the desktop and offered advice on how to make adjustments.

Windows Copilot Preview will simply arrive with the Windows 11 update. You won't have to install anything and there's no requirement that you use it. However, based on what I saw, if you ignore Copilot, you may be missing out on an entirely new way of working with the World's most widely used desktop platform.

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Microsoft announces Copilot all-in-one AI assistant coming to Windows 11 on September 26
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Today at Microsoft's “special event”, Yusef Mehdi, the tech company’s head of consumer marketing presented a huge next step in its AI evolution – Copilot. 

It has previously announced Microsoft 365 Copilot, an intelligent assistant that worked across a range of its suite of productivity apps like Word and Excel.

At the event, Microsoft explained how Copilot is going to help you with almost everything that you use Windows or Microsoft products for. This new versatile Copilot will be put into action September 26 to all devices that receive the next Windows 11 update. For desktop, you can get this today and start trying it out for yourself. This means Copilot will be on all kinds of devices – PCs, laptops, and tablets. 

Microsoft is aiming to integrate Copilot into Windows in such a way that feels natural and intuitive to use. It will be a standalone app, as well as function as an assistant in a wide assortment of other Windows apps to assist you with all kinds of tasks. This includes popular programs like Paint, Snipping Tool, Photos, and more where you can copy and paste right into the program and get to work on it right away. 

It will also help you figure out what to do with text, whether it can help revise or summarise it.

One particularly interesting addition to Microsoft’s available apps which Mehdi talked about is Windows Ink Anywhere which will allow you to handwrite a math problem into a text field or take a photo of it, and help you solve it. 

Also, if you connect your phone to your Windows device and give it permission to access your phone, Copilot will use that connection to inform its output.

Copilot and Bing, both with built-in AI

Microsoft’s flagship search engine, Bing, which has seen the integration of ChatGPT tech is also going to work in cooperation with Copilot, for example to help you shop online. You can take a picture and the two tools will help you quickly identify where you can buy it. Bing Image Creator, the AI image generator that anyone can access with a Microsoft account for free, is being upgraded to the DALL-E 3 model. When you ask Bing (and I assume Bing Chat, eventually) a question, the answers you get will be more personalized using your chat history. 

I think Copilot is going to have to prove itself – Microsoft spent a long time focusing on it during its presentation and it's not a physically flashy product, but it promises a lot. If it's as powerful and as useful as Microsoft says, that could be what makes it the next standard that we measure all AI assistants against (like Word was for text editors or Google is for search now). Time will tell.

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Microsoft to lay out its ambitious vision for AI integration in Windows 11 – here’s what to expect
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Microsoft is moving full steam ahead with its AI efforts, and could soon present its major plans in a special event. It’s anticipated that the company may take to the stage to announce continuing AI integration into Microsoft products, such as Windows 11, Microsoft 365 services, Surface, and others. 

It’s expected that we could even see this announcement as soon as today, Thursday 21, as Microsoft is due to host an event in New York City, which is widely-expected to focus on new Surface devices. However, The Verge points out that this is closely following the announcement of the resignation of the now former Windows and Surface chief Panos Panay.

The Verge has also gotten hold of a memo where Microsoft’s head of consumer marketing, Yusuf Mehdi, highly praises Panay. He then references today’s “special event” which will expand on Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s existing partnership and that this will be “only the beginning” of Microsoft’s AI-powered vision. 

Mehdi directly references Microsoft’s recent integration of OpenAI’s tech into Edge and Bing, as well as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft’s new AI voice assistant Windows Copilot. These improved tools will come installed on all new Windows 11 PCs, including Microsoft’s own Surface lineup and those of OEM partners (OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer – meaning Microsoft’s partners that also make devices that come with Windows pre-installed, such as Dell). The memo wraps up with Mehdi saying the event “will lay out the vision for what’s ahead.” 

All eyes on the Microsoft event

Microsoft

(Image credit: Unsplash)

Microsoft's internal reshuffling

He went on to indicate that there will be innovations for Microsoft’s Surface, silicon, and devices, headed by Pavan Davuluri.  Interestingly, there have been reports that Microsoft is actively working on its own AI chips that could challenge Nvidia’s chips. 

We could see more information about this at today’s event. The Verge speculates that Microsoft might be trying to convince OEMs to use neural processing unit (NPU) chips that can efficiently handle AI tasks and future Windows versions (such as Windows 12) in their new devices. One model that is expected to debut at the event is the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and it could have one of these new NPU components. 

Mehdi has also spoken on how Microsoft is directing its leadership and organization of its workforce to increase focus on AI and Microsoft Copilot. He is seemingly being pushed by Microsoft as the public face of Windows now that Panay has left, although he doesn’t directly head up any core teams that develop and deliver Windows. The wider leadership approach Microsoft is taking for Windows development and device hardware is spread among three key people: Yusuf Mehdi, Pavan Davuluri, and Mikhail Parakhin, who heads up the team combining Windows, Web, and Services. 

The last of these, Pakhin, is currently Microsoft’s CEO of advertising and web services, and is considered the main engineering leader when it comes to Windows. He’s a less visible public figure, not even putting a profile picture on X (formerly Twitter). Mehdi will be the one to watch for updates about the larger Windows picture, whereas Davuluri and Parakhin will be tasked with making the AI vision for Windows and other devices a reality.

Man tapping a cloud icon

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

What Microsoft products might look like in the future

We’ve already seen the first steps of integrating the newly-improved Bing Search and recently added Bing AI right into Windows menus and the taskbar. It’s expected that this integration of web technologies, AI, and services right into Windows will continue. The Verge suggests that Windows is being pivoted to live fully on the web, and this was seemingly backed up in the FTC v. Microsoft hearing that featured an internal Microsoft presentation. This presentation laid out Microsoft’s plans to move the consumer version of Windows to fully live in the cloud.

Whatever the case is, I think we can expect to see something major, perhaps even a bold new direction, as Microsoft says goodbye to Panay. Mehdi wraps up his memo by putting out a call to action for his and other Microsoft staff, and it’s clear that Microsoft very much has his head in the game, despite the high-profile loss of Panay. Today’s event will certainly be an interesting one for anyone interested in the future of Windows and Windows devices. 

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