Microsoft may have finally fixed Windows Search by turning it into a chatbot

Less than a year after promising to remove unnecessary Copilot integration from Windows 11, Microsoft today announced plans to turn part of the operating system’s taskbar into a chatbot of sorts. Starting this fall, the search menu will allow you to perform thousands of different actions on Windows simply by typing short commands into its interface. At the company’s fall Surface event, Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Windows and devices, demonstrated how the new search experience can quickly turn settings like dark mode and do not disturb on and off. He also demonstrated how the redesigned menu allows users to converse with the new Copilot app, without launching the software separately. If you want to continue the conversation, you can go directly to the app.

Davuluri said the redesigned interface is also faster and more efficient, promising it will make it easier to find apps, settings and files. The inference is also more contextual. For example, if you type “increase mic volume”, you will see a volume slider appear above your command prompt. If your phone is paired with Windows, you can also use the taskbar to send text messages without removing the device.

“To integrate AI into everyday life, we need to bring it to where people use it most, in the flow of human ambition,” Davuluri told the audience at the company’s event in San Francisco. “We are moving toward a future where everyone can simply express what they want and where their Windows PC, with their permission, can act on their behalf.”

At Wednesday’s event, Microsoft also announced Hybrid Intelligence, a new suite of software orchestration tools that will let you run AI models locally on your PC. When you enable Hybrid Intelligence, the updated Copilot app can access files on your computer and perform actions in your apps and settings. Microsoft says Copilot will still use cloud inference for the most difficult tasks, but in scenarios where cost or privacy might be an issue, it can run prompts on models that run directly on your computer.

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