Has Windows 11 Copilot AI disappointed you so far? The AI could soon get supercharged

Windows 11’s Copilot AI, which has only just entered testing, is still in a very barebones state, but a hint has been dropped that this could change soon, and the assistant should be getting considerably more extensive powers.

PhantomOfEarth, a Windows tester and regular leaker on Twitter, made the discovery that the new preview build 23506 of Windows 11 contains the first signs of Windows Copilot inbox plugins.

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What does that mean? Windows Copilot is essentially the Bing AI integrated into the OS via a side panel, capable of all the things the chatbot can do when interacted with online. However, the key difference is the ability to get the AI assistant to do stuff with Windows 11, such as changing settings. Meaning you might ask to ‘help me focus’ and Copilot can turn on a bunch of options to do this in one sweeping move.

And seemingly much of that fiddling with settings will be implemented via these plugins. In this way, as Windows Latest (which spotted this) points out, Microsoft can avoid bloating Copilot and slowing the experience down. (You won’t necessarily need all the plugins, of course – you can pick and choose).

While none of these plugins highlighted on Twitter work yet – these are just the first signs of them turning up in Windows 11 – we can see what the various features delivered as plugins might end up being (or some of them). As ever, though, just because they’re present in the background in testing doesn’t mean they’ll ever be realized.

With that caveat firmly in mind, the abilities spotted so far include an intriguing one: ‘boosting the user’s PC’, which should apply a bunch of tweaks to help the system run faster.

Other plugins are aimed at giving Copilot the ability to fire up (or close) apps, to set alarms or timers under Windows, to configure settings in general, to search for files the user needs, and even to offer ‘store suggestions’, which we presume means recommendations for apps to grab at the Microsoft Store?

As well as first-party plugins from Microsoft, the idea is that third-party plugins will be available too.


Analysis: Some difficult decisions ahead for Microsoft

Okay, so it sounds great for the Copilot AI to be able to optimize the performance of your system based on a simple request to ‘make things faster’ or similar. The note of caution comes, though, in the potential for things to go wrong here.

Presumably, any settings tweaks would be easily reversible if things somehow go awry with a batch of changes Copilot implements, but even so, the AI tinkering with things and coming off the rails – making things worse, not better – will not go down well with users.

As we’ve seen, there’s a clear potential for AI systems to make errors, which means that Microsoft must be very careful that when Copilot is finally introduced to all Windows 11 users, it works flawlessly. Otherwise, the AI will not make a good first impression which will be difficult to recover from. (We can just imagine it now: “That Copilot thing – it’s just another Clippy” and so forth).

This is why we don’t think Microsoft will rush to get Copilot in the Windows 11 23H2 update later this year – as the rumor mill seems to believe – because the company can’t afford to get it wrong.

Another route Microsoft could take is to roll out Windows Copilot with its Bing AI chatbot skills and just a few select plugins, meaning only a basic level of functionality for changing things in Windows 11, keeping that all very simple to begin with, and then building on it.

Maybe this is what Microsoft is planning, but the danger here is that Copilot will still feel underwhelming compared to what we’ve been promised in early teases – and again, that’d be a wobbly first impression to make.

To us, it makes more sense to keep this as a massive new feature for Windows 12 next year, and a compelling reason to upgrade.

It’s not as if there’s any real rush for Windows Copilot, not like there was with launching Bing AI earlier this year (namely beating Google’s Bard AI to the punch) – and notably, the wheels came off then, if you recall. Best be sure all the nuts are properly tightened this time round, Microsoft…

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Apple is reportedly working on a ChatGPT rival – but you won’t see it anytime soon

Of course, Apple is working on its own generative AI, Large Language Model (LLM) and possible ChatGPT rival called, naturally, AppleGPT. Sure, the news is based on a Bloomberg report and Apple is predictably mum on the matter but, seriously, how could the Cupertino tech giant not be working on its own AI?

According to the Bloomberg report, Apple is basing its ultra-secret project on a learning framework known as Ajax, from rival and sometimes friend Google.

The effort to build some sort of chatbot and maybe other generative AI systems has been going on since late last year but, as someone who attended Apple's WWDC 2023 can tell you, Apple made no mention of chatbots of any kind at the June developer's conference.

Privacy roadblock

Apple's hyper-focus on user privacy has, as I see it, somewhat hamstrung its efforts to bring any kind of LLM-based chatbot to consumers. ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing are all cloud-connected and send queries out to distant servers for rapid interpretation and response (based on the LLM's vast knowledge of how actual humans might respond under similar circumstances).

That, of course, is not the Apple way. Its Apple Silicon A16 Bionic's Neural Network is local. It does Machine Learning on your best iPhone. Sending queries with all those possibly personal details is anathema to Apple's privacy principles.

And yet, Apple clearly cannot afford to stay away from the siren call of generative AI. It is a revolution that is consuming the tech industry and the interests of average consumers and businesses. Even with the intense scrutiny AI development is under and the lawsuits some of it is facing, no one believes AI development is suddenly going to stop or go away. 

Apple has even gone as far as, according to Bloomberg, creating its own chatbot, or AppleGPT. But that's basically a highly limited and internal test and apparently not one that's ever headed to consumer desktops.

What about Siri?

Where does Siri sit in all this? 

Bloomberg claims that the Ajax work has already been used to improve Siri. That may be so, but the only Siri improvement we're getting with iOS 17 (currently in public beta) is the ability to stop starting each voice assistant prompt with “Hey.”

I have no doubt that Apple is hard at work figuring out its place in the LLM AI sphere, but it's also clear from the report that these are early days. There is no overarching strategy, and I doubt the existential question of whether or not Siri could ever host AppleGPT (or whatever it's called) has been answered.

Ultimately, this is confirmation that Apple is just as aware of what's going on around it and with competitors as ever. It will sample and test, develop and test, scrap and develop, and then test some more. I don't expect Apple to tell us anything about this during the expected September launch of the iPhone 15. However, by the time WWDC 2024 rolls around, Apple might be ready to unveil a new platform. Maybe it'll be AppleGPT-kit, AppleLLM-Kit, or even AppleGPT. 

This assumes that Apple can solve its big privacy question. If not, AppleGPT could remain in Skunkworks indefinitely.

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Windows 11 should soon get a lot more Android apps (but there’s no sign of Threads yet)

Windows 11 is about to get a lot more Android apps, or at least a fair few, as Microsoft and Amazon have opened up the floodgates to all developers who wish to get their mobile applications onto the desktop operating system.

As you’re likely aware, the way Android apps are run on Windows 11 is through WSA (Windows Subsystem for Android), and the app themselves are downloaded from the Amazon Appstore.

And Amazon has just announced to developers that the Appstore on Windows 11 is “now generally available”, meaning that anyone can now get on board and get their apps out there for Windows 11 users to download.

Amazon enthused: “We look forward to many more Android apps and games launching on Amazon Appstore for Windows 11.”

Don’t expect an immediate flood of additional apps for Windows 11, mind you, as bolstering the Appstore library is very much a process that’ll take time.


Analysis: A positive step forward, but manage those expectations

The Appstore is now available across 30 regions worldwide, too, so is becoming a pretty expansive market.

That said, far from all of the best Android apps (or the worst ones, for that matter) are downloadable via the Appstore, so it remains a considerably limited ecosystem in comparison to the Play Store. But it’s still definitely way better than having no Android apps on your Windows 11 desktop at all.

Perhaps a good example right now is the new Android (and iOS) app making big waves as folks flee Twitter for a new home, namely Threads. Zuckerberg’s Threads is not available on the Amazon Appstore yet, mind you, although to be fair, it has only just come out (you can read up more about it here).

We’re expecting it soon enough, but for now, those who want to use Threads on their Windows 11 desktop can circumvent the Windows Subsystem for Android by side-loading the app (not an officially sanctioned method, and not something for those who aren’t tech-savvy to attempt either, as you need to go into developer mode).

Via Windows Latest

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Hate writing emails? Gmail will soon do it for you on iOS and Android

Tired of writing emails from your phone? Google’s AI-powered Help Me Write tool for Gmail is coming to Android and iOS to help you draft replies in no time.

Since Google I/O 2023, Google has been releasing a bunch of in-development AI tools such as its updated Google Bard chatbot and Help Me Write, its new writing assistant. Help Me Write was previously only available to enrolled Workspace testers on desktop, but now those users will be able to use it in the Gmail app on their smartphone. This hopefully points towards a wider rollout soon.

Help Me Write works in two main ways. It can edit an email you’ve already written – for example, it can shorten it if it’s too wordy, make it more sound more formal, or insert emojis to create a more casual vibe with the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ option. 

Alternatively, if you’re in a rush you can provide the tool with a quick prompt and it’ll draft the whole thing for you. You can then edit it yourself, or use the same refinements (see image below) as before to tweak the length and tone.

In testing we’ve found the AI is generally better as an editor than a writer, but if you’ve got to draft a bunch of replies to tedious emails, then letting the AI take over the bulk of the work can be a major time-saver.

To get started with Help Me Write on Android or iOS you’ll need to download the Gmail app and sign into the account that has access to the Workspace prototype. Then, when you next compose an email you should see a Help Me Write prompt appear in the bottom right corner of your screen.

The update is steadily rolling out, so even if you’re signed up for Workspace Labs you might not yet see the Help Me Write option in Gmail on mobile yet.

How to get Help Me Write

A phone on an orange background showing the Gmail Help Me Write feature in an email

(Image credit: Future)

To get access to Help Me Write and some other AI tools it’s working on you’ll need to sign up for the invite-only Google Workspace Labs and get approval.

To request this, make sure you’re logged into your Google account on your browser of choice and go to the official Workspace Labs sign-up page. After reading through some details you’ll find some consumer acknowledgments that you’ll need to check off before you can hit ‘Submit’. Do this and you’ll be signed up to Workspace Labs.

As the tools are only in beta don’t expect them to be perfect – we’d recommend reading any AI-written emails before sending them off in case you find any huge errors. You’ll also find that the AI currently uses US English – so if you’re living in a region that uses 'colour' instead of 'color' or calls aubergines 'eggplants', you might find you have to correct the AI a fair bit.

If you want to try out some other powerful AI tools, check out our guide to the best ChatGPT alternatives.

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You’ll soon be able to create all kinds of documents in Google Docs – here’s how

Creating all kinds of documents with Google Docs could now prove a lot easier thanks to a new update.

The word processor tool from Google Workspace is now leveraging a boost in its smart chips technology to be able to create different types of specialized documents such as invoices or contracts.

Far from having to manually input and tweak your document to get it into exactly the right format, Google Docs users will now be able to set pre-defined items and placeholders, with the software automatically creating the type of file needed.

Google Docs smart chips

“Today, we’re introducing variable chips, a new feature that makes document creation for things like invoices, contracts, or broader communications much easier,” a Google Workspace update blog post announcing the news said.

Users will be able to pre-define and insert placeholders such as a client name, contract number, or an address, and then update it throughout their entire document simply by editing the value in one place. 

Google Docs variable smart chips

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

The update is available now, with no admin control necessary for business users. It will be available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only, meaning users with personal Google accounts won't get access. Rollout has started now, with users set to see the new feature over the next few weeks.

Opinion – a possible Google Docs game-changer?

As someone who creates all kinds of different types of documents within Google Docs, getting the right format and layout is often one of the trickest things to nail down – whether its a news article, a formal letter, or a contract, everything needs to be formatted in the correct way.

This launch shows Google Docs paying heed to such concerns in a way that Microsoft Word and other competitors are still yet to fully do, and could be a game-changer for workers around the world. Spelling an end to fiddly manual editing processes, the use of smart chips for intelligent editing and formatting could be incredibly valuable, and I'm all for it.

Coming on the heels of other new features such as collapsible headings, which make longer documents much easier to consume, and tweaks to tables of contents, Google Docs is finally becoming a true tool for all players.

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People in Montana will soon need a TikTok VPN to keep accessing the app

People living in Montana will soon need to download a VPN service to keep accessing TikTok.

Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed for the proposed ban to become law on Wednesday May 17, with the block due to be officially enforced on January 1, 2024.

The move makes Montana the first US state to ban TikTok, raising concerns over their right to free speech – so we've looked at what's at stake for the future of the Chinese social media giant in the country and how using a TikTok VPN might help.

Montana TikTok ban

Gianforte described Montana's TikTok ban as, “our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance,” the BBC reported.

Perhaps the most downloaded app worldwide, TikTok has been facing growing scrutiny in the US and its allied nations recently. Politicians are especially worried about the app's link with Beijing, fearing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could access US user data and spread nationalist propaganda.

Earlier this month, an ex-employee of TikTok's parent company ByteDance claimed the CCP had “supreme access” to all data as part of a larger wrongful layoff's lawsuit.

We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points

Keegan Medrano, ACLU of Montana

In December 2022, it was the news of ByteDance employees spying on some US journalists to raise the alarm. The video-sharing app was then banned on government devices among a long list of democracies, including the US, UK, New Zealand, Canada and some EU countries.

A total block is, however, what the US is striving for with the RESTRICT Act (now passing through the Congress) – exactly what Montana appears to have now finally achieved.

At the same time, experts argue that the US government has so far failed to bring concrete  evidence of the alleged wrongdoings. Many commentators also warn of the potential consequences of making TikTok illegal in the US, arguing that the move will restrict Americans' digital rights.

“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” said Keegan Medrano, policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Montana. 

“We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”  

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The law will prohibit TikTok from operating inside the state borders, while also requiring app stores to prevent people in Montana from downloading the app. Non-compliance punishments could reach up to $ 10,000 of starting fine, in addition to another $ 10,000 for every day the violation continues. 

“It would certainly be a costly gamble to keep download options available once the Bill comes into force and app stores would be well advised to comply,” Olexandr Kyrychenko, Partner at London-based law firm IMD Corporate, told TechRadar. 

All this might also create even worse security risks for TikTok users in Montana as 2024 starts won't be able to download any new updates and fix potential vulnerabilities.

VPN provider Private Internet Access (PIA) also believes that such a move would set a “worrisome precedent” over the future of digital freedom in the US. “Prohibiting the use of certain technologies or social media sites is a restrictive and likely ineffective way to protect US citizens’ data; who should have the right to choose whether or not they want to use these platforms.” 

According to the BBC, TikTok is expected to challenge the new law in court. 

In an official statement, the tech firm wrote: “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.”

In the meantime, we advise people in Montana to get a secure VPN service before the end of the year. This security software can, in fact, spoofs users' IP address location and make them appear if they're browsing from a completely different country within seconds.

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Google Chrome will soon get a nifty feature to cut through clutter on the web

The Chrome browser and Chromebooks are getting a smart new feature in the form of a Reading Mode, Google has revealed over at BETT.

The education tech show is currently underway in London, and Google unveiled plans for this Reading Mode to come to ChromeOS (meaning Chromebooks) as well as the Chrome browser.

The idea of the Reading Mode is it pops up a separate panel to the side of the web page in the browser window, enabling the viewing of that page in a cleaner format and offering greater clarity for simply reading the content.

In short, it strips away the clutter on the web page, so you can wave goodbye to distracting pictures, videos, icons, and buttons to concentrate purely on reading the actual text.

As 9 to 5 Google, which spotted this, points out, Reading Mode is inbound at some point later this year for the Chrome browser, and will debut on Chromebooks with ChromeOS version 114.


Analysis: Closer to the Edge

This is a welcome option for both ChromeOS and more widely the Chrome browser, as making web content more accessible has got to be a good thing – even if the Reading Mode took a long time to arrive (which it most certainly did).

Cutting out clutter to help focus on the core written content of a web page will be helpful in a range of scenarios, and clearly one of those is in the classroom for those who live with learning differences such as dyslexia and ADHD (which as Google points out, is one in five children in the US).

The Reading Mode will come with plenty of customization options so users can fine-tune it to their own needs, too. That’ll include the ability to change the font, and make the size larger if necessary, as well as adjusting elements such as character and line spacing, or the background color. For example, if you want a dark background rather than white, there’s a menu option to make that happen.

If this functionality sounds familiar, that’s because Google is playing catchup in this case, and you may have already played with this kind of streamlined browsing experience in Microsoft Edge (or other browsers).

The Edge browser has an Immersive Reader feature sporting a lot of similar capabilities to those announced by Google here (and more besides), and it was introduced some three years ago.

Immersive Reader can be kicked into gear by clicking the appropriate icon at the far right of the URL bar. (Although it may not be supported with every web page, you can still pull content out of a page by selecting the text and using the right-click context menu to invoke Immersive Reader).

The big difference between Google and Microsoft’s respective takes here is that Edge transforms the web page into its reading-friendly mode, whereas Chrome pops up the Reading Mode version in a panel next to the web page which is still displayed (side-by-side). Quite why Google has adopted this approach, we’re not sure, but as noted, you can expand the Reading Mode panel to be wider.

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WhatsApp could soon fix the most annoying thing about group chats

WhatsApp could soon be adding expiration dates to group chats so you no longer have to deal with so much clutter in your inbox.

If you open up your Whatsapp right now we expect you’ll find a backlog of defunct chats for group projects that have long been handed in, coordinating for events that happened years ago, and communicating with school friends you haven’t seen in a decade. Most of these you'd probably long forgotten about, with the unnecessary chats clogging up your smartphone’s storage with messages and images from chats you no longer need.

According to a leak, WhatsApp is set to get a feature that will help unclog your inbox called 'Expiring Groups' (via WaBetaInfo). If the feature is added you should find it on the group’s info page; using it you’ll then be able to set when you’ll be prompted to 'clean up' the group choosing either one day, one week, or a custom date. You could also remove the group’s expiration date.

Leaked WhatsApp menu showing Expiring Groups from WeBetaInfo

(Image credit: WaBetaInfo)

Based on the leaked screenshot, each user would have to set their own expiration date for the group, and it looks like WhatsApp won’t automatically delete the group. Instead, it will seemingly remind you that it might be time to leave the group or delete it, but the decision will be yours.

We’d suggest taking this news with a pinch of salt, though. WaBetaInfo has noted that the Expiring Groups feature is still in development – so not only is it apparently not ready for a full release, it’ll likely be some time before the feature makes its way to the WhatsApp beta. As such there’s a chance we’ll never see the feature launch – the developers could decide to scrap it – or by the time Expiring Groups launches, it could function differently.

You don’t have to wait for this Expiring Groups feature to launch if you want to remove old WhatsApp groups. In your Inbox long press on the chat you want to remove and then tap the menu button in the corner (the three dots) that appears, then Exit Group. Alternatively, you can Archive the chat so that it’s no longer in your Inbox but you can return to the chat later if you choose to.

You can also send self-destructing messages if you just want the chat's content to disappear, not the whole group chat.

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This cringeworthy Microsoft Teams feature could soon be forced upon you

Microsoft is readying an update for collaboration platform Teams that will allow admins to change the way meetings are displayed for all attendees.

As explained in a new entry to the company’s product roadmap, meeting hosts will soon be given the option to enable Together Mode for all participants. The update is still under development, but should take effect by the end of May.

Launched in the summer of 2020, Together Mode for Microsoft Teams brings all attendees into a shared virtual background, with the goal of “making it feel like you’re sitting in the same soom with everyone else”.

Together Mode

Together Mode in Microsoft Teams. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Together Mode in Microsoft Teams

Although the ambition behind Together Mode is a noble one, the execution leaves plenty to be desired. In this writer’s opinion, the virtual background filled with floating heads only serves to emphasize the fact a meeting is not, in fact, taking place in-person.

While Microsoft’s AI system does a decent enough job of cutting out each person’s home office background, and some people will get on with the feature better than others, there’s an welcome strangeness to the final result.

The idea that meeting hosts should be able to dictate that everyone uses the feature is particularly strange. While there’s something to be said for operating on a level playing field, some users are bound to find the feature more helpful (or unhelpful) than others, which makes a blanket policy counterproductive.

However, not all of Microsoft’s attempts to introduce variety to the way Teams meetings are displayed have been quite so divisive.

Last year, the company rolled out a series of new presenter modes designed to help Teams users flex their presentation style to the occasion. Standout Mode, for example, seats the presenter’s video feed in front of the slide deck, while Reporter Mode places content above the shoulder in the style of a news broadcast.

The features were an example of the way in which virtual backgrounds and clever positioning of content can legitimately improve the quality of video meetings, delivering on Microsoft’s stated ambition to “help presenters deliver content more professionally and offer meeting participants dynamic experiences”.

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This cringeworthy Microsoft Teams feature could soon be forced upon you

Microsoft is readying an update for collaboration platform Teams that will allow admins to change the way meetings are displayed for all attendees.

As explained in a new entry to the company’s product roadmap, meeting hosts will soon be given the option to enable Together Mode for all participants. The update is still under development, but should take effect by the end of May.

Launched in the summer of 2020, Together Mode for Microsoft Teams brings all attendees into a shared virtual background, with the goal of “making it feel like you’re sitting in the same soom with everyone else”.

Together Mode

Together Mode in Microsoft Teams. (Image credit: Microsoft)

Together Mode in Microsoft Teams

Although the ambition behind Together Mode is a noble one, the execution leaves plenty to be desired. In this writer’s opinion, the virtual background filled with floating heads only serves to emphasize the fact a meeting is not, in fact, taking place in-person.

While Microsoft’s AI system does a decent enough job of cutting out each person’s home office background, and some people will get on with the feature better than others, there’s an welcome strangeness to the final result.

The idea that meeting hosts should be able to dictate that everyone uses the feature is particularly strange. While there’s something to be said for operating on a level playing field, some users are bound to find the feature more helpful (or unhelpful) than others, which makes a blanket policy counterproductive.

However, not all of Microsoft’s attempts to introduce variety to the way Teams meetings are displayed have been quite so divisive.

Last year, the company rolled out a series of new presenter modes designed to help Teams users flex their presentation style to the occasion. Standout Mode, for example, seats the presenter’s video feed in front of the slide deck, while Reporter Mode places content above the shoulder in the style of a news broadcast.

The features were an example of the way in which virtual backgrounds and clever positioning of content can legitimately improve the quality of video meetings, delivering on Microsoft’s stated ambition to “help presenters deliver content more professionally and offer meeting participants dynamic experiences”.

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