Ignite 2024: Microsoft to Add AI-Powered Windows Search to Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft has announced plans to use AI models to enhance Windows search on its new Copilot+ PCs. These search improvements are coming to File Explorer, Windows Search, and Settings.

The improved Windows Search experience is designed to make it easier for users to find files, including documents and photos. This feature will eliminate the need for users to remember file names or exact file content. Microsoft is leveraging the NPU chips on new Copilot+ PCs to enable local search on disk without having to be connected to the Internet.

“Users will be able to search for local documents by describing their content or using synonyms of content in documents. For example, a document that talks about cars, buses and airplanes can be found by a user searching for “modes of transport.” For images, users will be able to search by image content, including any text found in an image,” Microsoft explained.

With the improved Windows Search, users will be able to find files stored in OneDrive for Business more easily. This integration will help users quickly locate and access work documents. In early 2025, Microsoft plans to roll out this new Windows Search experience to Windows Insiders for Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs. The improved Windows Search will also be coming to Windows 365 Cloud PCs in Spring 2025.

Other AI features coming to Windows 11

Microsoft plans to enhance Microsoft 365 Copilot to allow more employees access to generative writing capabilities in apps like Word and Outlook. Moreover, the controversial AI-powered Recall feature will now be disabled by default on new Copilot+ PCs. It will be up to the administrators to enable this feature through policies.

Additionally, Microsoft has released a new Click to Do feature that helps users search images and text on Copilot+ PCs. The company also announced that Windows Studio Effects, Image super resolution, and Live captions with live translations are now available as APIs in Windows Copilot Runtime.

Updates to WSL and WinGet

Last but not least, Microsoft has announced enhancements coming to WSL and WinGet to help administrators effectively manage their business apps. The new Intune device compliance integration lets administrators monitor WSL distribution and version usage within their organization.

Furthermore, Microsoft Entra ID integration with WSL lets developers access protected enterprise resources from a WSL distribution. Microsoft has released a new WSL distribution architecture to enable IT admins to access more Linux distributions, including Red Hat.