Microsoft Shows Copilot Searching PC Files and Taking Actions in Windows
Microsoft is changing Copilot AI so it can use files stored on a Windows PC and carry out tasks across the operating system. In a demonstration, the assistant…
Copilot AI will be able to search files on a Windows PC and take actions across the operating system, a change that could let users handle tasks such as gathering tax documents without relying on cloud services for every step. Microsoft demonstrated the update at its Windows and Surface event in San Francisco.
The feature is part of what Microsoft calls “Hybrid Intelligence”: a combination of AI models and tools running locally on a device and in the cloud. The company says the new capabilities will reach Copilot over the “next couple months.”
How Copilot AI handled a tax-filing task
Jacob Andreou, Microsoft’s executive vice president of Copilot, showed a video demonstration in which a user asked the assistant to help respond to an accountant’s email. The user said the accountant needed documents for filing taxes.
Copilot searched across folders on the PC, found the relevant files, renamed them and placed them in a zipped folder. It then drafted an email to the accountant with the folder attached.
The demonstration illustrated a practical change: the assistant was not limited to answering a prompt. It could work with files and perform several connected steps inside Windows. Microsoft did not say in the supplied information whether every task would run locally or which files and permissions the feature will require.
That distinction matters for people handling sensitive paperwork. Microsoft’s demonstration showed local file access as part of a task, while the broader Hybrid Intelligence approach also includes cloud models. The company’s stated aim is to match work to local or cloud capabilities; the announcement did not provide a full account of how the system will handle file access or data protection.
Windows search gets quick controls
Microsoft also showed a redesigned Windows search experience that can trigger actions directly from the search bar. Examples included switching on dark mode, adjusting microphone volume with an in-line slider and sending a text.
Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft’s Windows and Surface chief, said the search experience would become available on Windows 11 PCs starting this fall. The announcement described quick controls, but did not specify which actions will be supported beyond the examples shown.
The software changes accompany Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Ultra, which the company presented as hardware for AI workloads. The laptop includes an Nvidia chip, and Microsoft said it can run models on the device rather than sending every request to the cloud.
At the event, a presenter showed some coding requests being routed to the laptop’s local graphics processor and others to the cloud. A green leaf icon marked requests handled locally. Microsoft also said developers can use Microsoft Execution Containers in Windows 11 to confine coding agents and prevent unwanted system access.
For users, the local option could reduce dependence on cloud processing for tasks that do not need heavier computing, according to Microsoft’s explanation of its hybrid approach. The company did not give a price or a separate release date for the Copilot changes in the supplied announcement. It said the features are expected over the “next couple months.”
“Copilot now truly understands your PC,” Andreou said. “It’s Copilot built natively for Windows.”
Source: cnbc.com
