Microsoft announced the beginning of the rollout of the Windows 11 2024 Update (version 24H2) today, but it may be a while before you get it. Microsoft is implementing what it's calling a "phased rollout" of the Windows 11 2024 Update and the first phase will begin "over the coming weeks," said John Cable, Microsoft's vice president of program management, Windows servicing and delivery, in a blog post on Tuesday. The Windows 11 2024 Update will be available to everyone and not just those who have bought a Copilot PC. But Copilot PC owners will be among the first to sample new Windows experiences that Microsoft will subsequently launch, with the goal of pushing them out to as many as possible by the 2024 holiday season. If you wish to be among the group that upgrades to the Windows 11 2024 Update/ Windows 11 24H2 as quickly as possible, follow the same best practices as you have previously. Your PC will need to be upgraded to either Windows 11 22H2 or Windows 11 23H2 and updated.

Microsoft's Paint app now boasts not just one, but two AI art tools -- Image Creator and Cocreator -- and boy, are they something. First things first: Microsoft Cocreator, the scaled-down version of Microsoft's Bing Image Creator/Microsoft Designer, is still the engine of AI art in Paint. Type in a prompt, and it will create a scene according to your description and style. Microsoft Cocreator was renamed to Image Creator, and Microsoft Cocreator is now an entirely different tool. The king is dead; long live the king.

Microsoft Paint is getting new image generation powers with a new tool called Cocreator. Powered by "diffusion-based algorithms," Cocreator can generate images based on text prompts as well as your own doodles in the Paint app. The company has been experimenting with AI image generation in Paint for a while, and early versions of Cocreator have been available to developers and Windows Insiders since the fall. But with the introduction of CoPilot PCs, the feature is now official. During a demo at its Surface event, the company showed off how Cocreator combines your own drawings with text prompts to create an image. There's also a "creativity slider" that allows you to control how much you want AI to take over compared with your original art.

Microsoft is significantly expanding the functions of Paint in Windows 11. The app is also getting a new version. The outdated program is to become a modern image editor that also contains AI functions. In the future, you will be able to use the OpenAI-LLM Dall-E directly in Windows 11 and in Paint. The new functions are also available after installing the Microsoft Paint app from the App Store.

Microsoft Paint is gaining generative AI powers with Paint Cocreator, a new feature debuting in conjunction that will eventually arrive in Windows 11 23H2, now known as the Windows 11 2023 Update. It's a big win for Paint, which was on its deathbed as late as 2017. Now, Paint will essentially become a launcher and editor for Microsoft's Bing Image Creator, a lovely AI art tool that creates AI-generated images from text prompts. This doesn't appear to be an overly complex update: A new "Cocreator" button appears on the toolbar. Click it, and a sidebar opens to the right.