There seems to be good news for anyone who has been desperate for Microsoft to incorporate AI features into every aspect of Windows 11, as new reports suggest that the company has abandoned plans to add its Copilot AI assistant to core parts of its operating system.
Back in 2024, Microsoft Executive Vice President Yusuf Mehdi promised that Copilot would come to Windows 11’s Settings and File Explorer apps, and even be included in notifications.
However, while the company has been adding AI features to Windows 11, despite many users showing disinterest (or downright hostility) towards those additions, the features Mehdi showed off a few years ago have yet to appear.
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When in doubt, blame Remember
You may… remember… that Recall was initially a big part of Microsoft’s advertising push for Copilot+ PCs, essentially any Windows 11 laptop or desktop that has an NPU (Neural Processing Unit).
However, once critics and users alike started pointing out that having everything on your screen constantly recorded and stored could be a pretty major privacy breach, Microsoft delayed adding Recall and belatedly released it as a ‘beta’ test that’s disabled by default. It’s still in beta, apparently waiting for Microsoft to address the numerous concerns people have raised about it.
That backlash has apparently made Microsoft cautious about adding AI features to Copilot-branded Windows 11, and while that doesn’t mean the company will stop adding AI features entirely, Windows Central suggests that’s why we haven’t seen Copilot in Settings and File Explorer.
In fact, I’d be under no illusions that Microsoft has made any kind of road to Damascus realization about how unpopular its decision to add AI features has been rather than fixing some pretty fundamental flaws in Windows 11. As Windows Central suggests, ongoing work to fix Recall appears to have put some of Microsoft’s most ambitious AI features on hold.
If Microsoft somehow finds a way to adjust Recall to address people’s privacy concerns, while maintaining the original goal of the feature and proving that it’s a feature people should use, then the influx of AI features in Windows 11 could resume.
Additionally, the report suggests to me that rather than discouraging Microsoft from adding AI features, it is simply preventing Microsoft from labeling them as ‘Copilot’, perhaps in an attempt to prevent the Copilot brand from being further damaged by unpopular features.
In fact, Microsoft has added artificial intelligence features to both the Settings app and File Explorer, but they are not as integrated as the features Mehdi introduced in 2024, nor do they reference Copilot.
As much as I would love for Microsoft to abandon its AI obsession and get to work making Windows 11 a decent operating system, I just don’t see that happening. The company has invested too much in AI to give up now. It also sticks with the Copilot brand, despite it being (in typical Microsoft fashion) a terrible name, and that brand will be damaged every time a bad product, feature, or service is presented to users under the Copilot label.
Microsoft, then, should try to keep Copilot separate from the ‘Microslop’ accusations. While the company will hopefully do this by reducing ill-thought-out AI features, it looks like we could still get them, but with fewer mentions of Copilot.
Until then, I’m afraid I’ll continue using my macOS devices until Windows 11 becomes a more attractive operating system that actually works well, rather than a Trojan horse used to justify the company’s obsession with AI.
Still, there are reasons to be positive. When Windows Central reached out to Microsoft, a spokesperson responded by saying, “Our approach to product development is to preview with customers and evolve with feedback. Some experiences we can preview privately and update before rolling out more broadly, while others we can preview and iterate publicly with feedback from Windows Insiders,” suggesting that Microsoft is taking user feedback into account.
Coupled with reports that Microsoft is scaling back on adding AI features to Windows 11 and instead fixing the operating system, I’m hopeful that the company is finally paying attention to its customers who so far haven’t been very impressed with the AI push, especially since it seems to have come at the expense of quality control. I just hope it’s not too little, too late.
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