In the last two years, Microsoft has invested a lot of money in the ChatGPT inventor Open AI and in its own AI developments. Since then, Microsoft has been equipping more and more programs with artificial intelligence, above all the Edge browser and Office programs. But AI is also finding its way into Windows. In this article, we present the new AI functions in Windows, the Windows apps, and Microsoft 365. Microsoft's AI engine Copilot has been part of the operating system since Windows 11 23H2 for U.S. users, and is available via the Copilot app in the Microsoft Store for others.

Microsoft is currently adding AI functions to one application after another. The Edge browser has also received an AI update. However, not every user is happy about this. This is because the AI may transmit user data to Microsoft. For other users, these functions are nothing more than bloatware, i.e. superfluous extras that only waste memory and computing time.

There are vanishingly few places in Microsoft's business ecosystem that remain untouched by January's OpenAI deal, with GPT-4 backed chatbot and generative capabilities coming to Office products like Word and Excel, Bing Search, and integrated directly into the Edge browser. During the Microsoft Build 2023 conference on Tuesday, company executives clarified and confirmed that its 365 Copilot AI -- the same one going into Office -- will be "natively integrated" into the Edge browser. Microsoft 365 Copilot essentially takes all of your Graph information -- data from your Calendar, Word docs, emails and chat logs -- and smashes them together, using the informatic slurry in training an array of large language models, to provide AI-backed assistance personalized to your business. "You can type natural language requests like'Tell my team how we updated the product strategy today,'" Lindsay Kubasik, Group Product Manager, Edge Enterprise wrote in a Tuesday blog post. "Microsoft 365 Copilot will generate a status update based on the morning's meetings, emails and chat threads."

Artificial intelligence has been working behind the scenes of our apps and gadgets for many years now--interpreting our voice commands, recommending music playlists, picking out the next word for us on our phone keyboard--but in recent months AI technology has come to the fore like never before. With AI now generating its own artwork and producing natural-sounding text on demand, we've moved up to a whole new level of sophistication. These powerful tools are being integrated into all of the apps we use every day, and that includes web browsers. Microsoft is leading the way with its Edge browser, but others are following quickly behind, as we'll explain. Here we're going to cover built-in browser features that put some AI magic at your fingertips, but there are also plenty of browser extensions available to help you get more out of AI too.

Bing AI is now open to all--sort of. Three months after debuting its revamped search engine, Microsoft has announced that it's now moving into open preview. You'll still need to sign into Bing on the Edge browser (or the Bing mobile apps) to use the chatbot, but at least you no longer have to deal with a waitlist. As if to celebrate this new phase of Bing (powered by OpenAI's GPT-4), Microsoft is also rolling out several new features. For one, it can go beyond mere text responses to deliver charts, graphs and rich formatting.

In addition to today's launch of OpenAI's GPT-4, which is now confirmed to be the GPT model running in Bing, Microsoft also announced the stable version of its Edge web browser will now include the new Bing AI chatbot in a sidebar. The feature was first introduced at Microsoft's AI press event in February but was previously only available as a developer preview, not a public release. With today's official unveiling of GPT-4, Microsoft is shipping the feature, which it calls the "Edge Copilot," in the stable version of its Microsoft Edge browser. The update reimagines the concept of the sidebar, which previously hosted Edge's "Discover" feature to provide users with context about the page they're visiting. Now the new sidebar will offer an AI chatbot instead.

Microsoft is enabling Video Super Resolution for their Edge browser. The video upscaling feature is now available to GeForce and Radeon users. Microsoft confirms that all RTX models (20, 30 and 40 series with Tensor cores) and Radeon RX 5700-7800 series will support this technology. The AI technology will only work if the video resolution is lower than 720p but not smaller than 192 pixels wide or high. Furthermore, it only works for video content that is not protected by DRM (PlayReady or Widevine), so it may not work for sites such as Netflix or other streaming services. Microsoft’s VSR technology is said to remove compression artifacts and enhance text crispiness. The feature is now available to 50% of users and will be enabled for the rest later. However, users can now enable this feature manually by changing the browser’s flag: edge://flags/#edge-video-super-resolution Another condition that must be met is AC power, it will not

Microsoft's Internet Explorer deserved to die. Or at least to be put out of its misery. The 27-year-old browser has long been bogged down by performance and security problems, and Microsoft has fully moved on to its Edge browser. Microsoft officially murdered the beleaguered IE last year, though its ghostly presence still lingers on Windows PCs around the world. In an effort to scrape up the remains, Microsoft has now begun automatically removing instances of Internet Explorer from users' computers.

I finally broke down and switched to Microsoft's Edge browser this week on my Windows PC, after many years of using Google Chrome. No, it wasn't the incessant and annoying prompts in Windows 11, urging me to make Edge my default, although the nagging did keep the Microsoft browser top of mind. For me, the tipping point was Edge's built-in "Read aloud" feature, and what sounds to my ears like major advances in some of Microsoft's synthesized voices, to the point that they're almost indistinguishable from human narrators. I've long been a fan of text-to-speech for listening to articles and long emails. I've used various apps and browser plugins over the years, some of them more seamless than others.

A user demonstrates the look and feel of Windows 10 operating system for smartphones and at the Microsoft stall at the CeBIT technology fair in Hanover, Germany. How do you freshen up a venerable operating system like Windows 10, and get you to care, especially when you release an update to the software as frequently as every six months or so? Microsoft's approach this time around starts out with a name change, following up the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, with what the company is calling the Windows 10 April 2018 Update. It's a rather curious name choice, in that you can't go grab the update manually until the very last day of April. And most won't see the update until it starts otherwise rolling out on May 8 Microsoft says this latest iteration of Windows is still about helping you create stuff, only doing so in ways that better maximize your time.