- Microsoft has updated a support document with more details about AI agents
- Now explain how these agents will need permission to access your files.
- AI agents will not be granted default access, even if they are enabled in Windows 11, unless you specifically allow it
Microsoft has provided more details about how AI agents will work in Windows 11 when it comes to permissions to access files on your PC, allaying at least some fears around this functionality, but bigger concerns remain.
In case you missed it (somehow), Agents were recently revealed as the next big step forward with AI in Windows 11, and Microsoft is laying the groundwork to test them, introducing a slider to activate ‘experimental agent features’ in preview (test) builds.
Some people were concerned that turning this on would mean that these agents would be able to access your files by default (albeit in a limited set of folders, i.e. personal documents, videos, downloads, etc.).
Windows Latest reports that Microsoft has clarified (in an update to a support document) that this is No case, and that even if you have enabled experimental agents, these AI entities will not have access to said personal folders by default. They still have to ask every time they want to access your files (unless you decide to allow them permanently).
A permission dialog will appear when an AI agent requires file access for a task assigned to it, and you’ll need to explicitly allow it access that one time or, alternatively, always have access (or you can deny it, of course). Those are the standard options in Windows when you have these types of options.
Windows Latest further explains that it will also be possible to customize permissions for each agent (there are several agents, which will include Copilot, Researcher, and Analyst to start with), which is also good to hear.
Analysis: welcome clarification, but scary prospects remain
It’s helpful to get a little more information and details about how AI agents work in terms of file permissions, and given the severity of letting an AI loose on your files, it’s really essential to not grant access by default. (Unless you want this to happen, in which case you can choose to “always allow” access, although this option can be changed later in Settings, in case you later change your mind about this.)
While Microsoft allows you to give different permissions to different AI agents, so you can allow, for example, the investigator to have access, while denying all other agents, you can’t adjust permissions for folders at a granular level. It’s all or nothing in this regard: you give an agent access to all of your personal folders (documents, videos, images, downloads, music, and desktop), or none of them. If, for example, you only want to give the researcher access to just the documents folder, this is not possible.
Of course, AI agents are still in early testing with Windows 11, so Microsoft could change its mind and allow access to folders to be modified individually; we’ll see.
In any case, at least for now we have this useful clarification that should help calm some fears, perhaps, about how Microsoft’s agent creations will work in Windows 11.
Although that said, there are much more substantial concerns regarding AI agents, as you may have noticed. That includes whether Microsoft’s propensity to introduce bugs into Windows 11 could also apply to these AIs (and having agents go wrong like that is a terrifying prospect, to say the least) and Microsoft’s warning about how agents can open up new exploits in terms of malware hasn’t been all that comforting either.
However, remember with all this that you don’t have to allow AI agents into your PC if you don’t want to use them, just as you don’t need to turn on Recall, another AI feature that has caused controversy and privacy concerns. If you have any doubts, frankly, stay away.
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