Microsoft has started rolling out a new feature for its Co-pilot AI assistant in Windows that allows the bot to directly read files on your PC, then provide a summary, locate specific data, or search the Internet for additional information.
Copilot has already been aggressively integrated into Microsoft 365 and Windows 11 as a whole, and this latest feature sounds – at least on paper – like a serious privacy problem. After all, who would want an AI to peek at all their files and upload that information directly to Microsoft?
Fortunately, Copilot doesn’t just randomly sniff around. As noted by @Leopeva64 on X (formerly Twitter), you must manually drag the file into the Copilot chat box (or select the ‘Add a file’ option). Once the file is in place, you can proceed to submit a request to the AI; Leopeva64’s suggestion is simply to ‘summarize’, which Copilot does next.
A new step towards Copilot that is really useful
I admit it: I’m a Copilot critic. Maybe it’s just because I’m a jaded career journalist with a lifetime of technical knowledge and a neurodivergent tendency toward unhealthy perfectionism, but I’ve never seen the value of an AI assistant built into my operating system of choice; however, this is the kind of Copilot feature I could actually use.
The option to summarize only seems quite useful: more than once I’ve gotten a big PDF with embargo details on a new tech product, and that would be quite nice not to having to wade through pages and pages of dense legal and technical jargon to find the bits of information that are actually relevant to Ny Breaking’s readership. Summarizing documents is already something ChatGPT And Adobe Acrobat AI can do, so it makes sense that Copilot – an AI tool specifically positioned as a helper on the system – can do this.
While I personally prefer to be in charge of my own Googling, I can see the Internet search capabilities being very useful for many users as well. If you have a file that contains partial information, asking Copilot to “fill in the blanks” can save you a lot of time. Copilot appears to be able to read a variety of different file types, from simple text documents to PDFs and spreadsheets. Given the flexible nature of modern AI chatbots, there are potentially many different things you can ask Copilot to do with your files – although it apparently isn’t capable of scanning files for viruses (at least, not yet).
If you want to get this feature for yourself, hopefully you won’t have to wait long. While it doesn’t appear to be generally available yet, Leopeva64 notes that it appears Copilot’s latest new skill is “being rolled out gradually,” so it will likely appear for more. Windows 11 users as time passes.
The Edge version of Copilot will apparently get this feature too, as Leopeva notes that it’s currently available in the Canary prototype version of the browser – if you want to check that out, just sign up for the Edge Insider Program.