Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images
Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10, all but forcing users to either upgrade or pay more money to keep getting essential security updates for the OS they already own. No matter that its replacement, Windows 11, can’t be run on nearly half a billion machines, meaning it’ll create mountains of e-waste as those old, perfectly usable PCs get thrown out for new ones.
If possible, things are getting even worse. This week, Microsoft is launching a suite of artificial intelligence features that basically turns existing Windows 11 systems into full-blown “AI PCs” which are controlled by Copilot, the company’s AI assistant. This isn’t us being uncharitable: it’s literally how a Microsoft exec is describing the update.
“We think we’re on the cusp of the next evolution, where AI happens not just in that chatbot and gets naturally integrated into the hundreds of millions of experiences that people use every day,” Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, told The Verge in a briefing. “The vision that we have is: let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI, and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC.”
If that sounds like a nightmare to you, then you’ll realize that it’s no coincidence that the AI updates are being rolled out when they are. Microsoft is making Windows 10 users walk the plank so they can fall into an inescapable pit of AI — where, once trapped, they’re presumably supposed to give up and let the tech dominate their user experience.
The most obvious change is that Copilot will now be smack dab in the middle of the Windows taskbar, which is arguably the most valuable piece of real estate on a user’s screen. It’s a design embodiment of how Microsoft wants to make AI central to the user experience.
This transformative shift hinges on users being willing to talk to their computer — as in, yes, actually uttering words out loud. The Copilot features will be activated by saying the phrase “Hey, Copilot!,” acting as a sort of “third input mechanism to use with your PC,” said Mehdi. (Historically, adding another input mechanism hasn’t done wonders for the company.)
The logic behind the voice controls sounds pretty questionable, but it’s supposedly backed by data showing that users spend billions of minutes talking in Microsoft Team meetings, according to Mehdi — so they’re already used to talking on the computer, right?
And with another feature, Copilot Vision, the AI will be able to see everything that happens on your screen so it can give context-based recommendations and tips. This is supposed to pair with Copilot Actions, which allow the AI assistant to perform tasks on your local machine, like editing folders or looking stuff up.
“The PC should be able to act on your behalf,” Mehdi said.
Needless to say, this requires ceding an alarming level of access to the AI — with your permission, of course. And evidence suggests this will be a hard sell. Microsoft’s AI-powered Recall feature, which constantly took screenshots of your desktop, received tons of backlash for its obvious security flaws, like recording your Social Security number, and storing these recordings in a completely unencrypted folder.
For now, the Copilot features will be technically opt-in, but it’s more than possible that this will change in the future. Remember when Microsoft tried to force everyone to use its last stab at a virtual assistant, Cortana, when Windows 10 came out? That also had voice controls and a host of privacy woes. This time it’ll be different, of course.
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