In what appears to be an attempt to get more people to use Copilot, Microsoft provided the new “app experience” for the AI assistant at once Windows 10 And Windows 11 devices in the latest cumulative updates for July.
In both KB5040427 for Windows 10 and KB5040442 for Windows 11The new Copilot app is rolling out now (though gradually, so you may not see it for a while), and it comes with the usual round of security updates and fixes for various issues (including a bug that breaks the taskbar).
With the new update installed on either operating system, you will find that Copilot is no longer pinned to the right side of the desktop, but can now be moved around like a normal application window. Copilot application its window can also be resized or docked – basically, it becomes like any other application in Windows, with the “benefits of a typical application experience,” as Microsoft puts it.
What’s interesting is that this initial improved co-pilot experience has been tested only with Windows 11 usersbut Microsoft is suddenly rolling it out in full not just to the final version of Windows 11, but to Windows 10 as well. This seems to indicate how eager Microsoft is to bring this new and improved version of Copilot to more users – and there are still a lot more Windows 10 users – in the hopes of increasing the AI’s usage numbers.
Clearly, this isn’t good news for Windows 10 users who may have been hoping to avoid Microsoft’s aggressive push for Copilot (even if only temporarily). If they get to grips with the new Copilot app experience this quickly, and if Microsoft makes other efforts to push AI more prominently, it’s safe to assume that whatever happens with Windows 11 will also come to Windows 10 almost immediately.
A question of user acclimatization?
Chatbots and AI assistants like Copilot, ChatGPTAnd Google Gemini is becoming increasingly developed and popular, although this does not necessarily seem to translate into more frequent daily use. In fact, a recent study seems to show that almost none of us use AI tools except early adoptersalthough we may be aware of companies like Copilot or Gemini.
So, if these kinds of reports are to be believed, in the grand scheme of things, only a niche group of Windows users—enthusiasts and the curious—are turning to Copilot to help them or streamline their workflow.
Making Copilot more like an app on Windows is a move to make the AI feel less out of place and more like any other app you’d download to boost your productivity. For Windows 10 users more generally, I also think it’s a way to acclimate them to Copilot, so that when support for the old OS ends (next year) and they’re forced to upgrade to Windows 11, they’ll still use the AI after getting used to it. Or at least that’s the theory, I suppose — whether or not that comes to fruition is another question.
Via Beeping computer
