Microsoft's Copilot can now take a look at your open tabs in Edge, if you allow it, as part of new AI features for the browser.

There’s a new update for the Edge browser on desktop and mobile
Microsoft has retired copilot mode, which came to the browser last year
It’s been replaced by a number of separate AI features, including one that can (with your permission) scan all your open tabs.

Microsoft is removing co-pilot mode from Edge, but if you thought AI was going away from the web browser, think again, as AI features are actually being integrated directly into the app.

Microsoft announced that as part of the latest update to Edge, co-pilot mode will be removed from the browser, but new artificial intelligence features will be added to the desktop version of the app (and mobile as well).

The biggest change here is that Copilot can now scan all the tabs you have open in Edge and extract information to answer your queries.

Analysis: co-pilot layer activated

Woman using a Windows 11 computer with Microsoft Edge

(Image credit: Microsoft)

So the tactic Microsoft is taking now is to effectively cover up Copilot. AI isn’t going away from Edge, but the most direct presence (copilot mode, introduced almost a year ago) is being shelved, and AI functionality is more subtly integrated into the browser in different ways.

And it’s true that some of the features described above could be quite useful. The concern for some is on the privacy front, although Microsoft is clear enough that Copilot only has access to snooping through your tabs if you click the AI button.

The company makes it clear: “With Copilot on Edge, your data remains yours. Microsoft only collects what it needs to improve your experience, or what you choose to provide through Personalization settings.”

If you avoid clicking the Copilot icon and don’t enable any of these features in Edge settings, there won’t be any privacy issues. Or there shouldn’t be, anyway, but that hasn’t stopped there from being an unsurprisingly negative reaction to Microsoft’s latest Edge update.

There are certainly some Redditors who don’t trust what Microsoft is doing here, and comments like this are not uncommon: “Microsoft Edge and privacy don’t go in the same sentence.”

Microsoft is busy trying to change the bad reputation it has had since Windows 11 arrived, which got much worse with the arrival of Copilot to the operating system, and in particular, we now have the big push to fix everything that is wrong with Windows 11.

However, with skeptical Redditors saying things like “K2 won’t mean anything” in reaction to this latest move for Edge (K2 is the codename for the project to optimize Windows 11, unlock the operating system and make it more efficient), it seems like Microsoft still has a lot of work to do to build trust.