As Windows 10 Era Ends, Microsoft Pushes Voice Control and AI in Windows 11

With voice-enabled Copilot now available on all Windows 11 devices, Microsoft hopes more people will take advantage of its AI tools. They are betting that voice and artificial intelligence software will become as common as the keyboard and mouse.

Microsoft is rolling out a range of Copilot features for Windows 11 PCs, including Voice, Copilot Vision, and Copilot Actions.

The timing is perfect, as Windows 10 support ends on October 14, which is expected to prompt users to upgrade to Windows 11. The goal for them is to make Copilot’s advanced features accessible to as many people as possible and encourage them to try it.

They announced updates to Windows that enable users to activate Copilot by simply saying “Hey Copilot.” The company wants people to embrace voice commands as a natural way to interact with their computers.

With voice-enabled Copilot now available on all Windows 11 devices, Microsoft hopes more people will take advantage of its AI tools. They are betting that voice and artificial intelligence software will become as common as the keyboard and mouse.

Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer marketing chief, noted that for nearly 40 years, people have become accustomed to using a mouse and a keyboard to interact with their PCs. Now, the company wants users to use voice as a third major way to control the computer. Touch input was once a focal point for Microsoft, especially during the Windows 8 era and its push into Windows tablets (and Windows Phone), which were ultimately discontinued outside of some devices, such as the Surface Pro. Now, voice is taking centre stage for the company.

Microsoft has data supporting this shift. Mehdi has pointed out that their users are already interacting with their PCs through voice for tasks such as dictation, note-taking, voice typing, and transcription. He also mentioned that people use the Copilot app twice as often when speaking rather than typing since it’s easier. Microsoft believes that this will change the way people interact with their computers.

The updates will be launched on Windows personal computers (PCs) this week. It will also include a broader rollout of a tool called Copilot Vision, a feature that allows the software to “see” what is on the user’s desktop or in certain apps to help troubleshoot or prompt the software to offer creative ideas for their design project.  

While Windows still runs on most of the world’s desktops and laptop computers, its influence has faded  in the last decade as people are using more smartphones. According to Mehdi, Microsoft was developing its operating system (OS) around artificial intelligence to make Windows more relevant and powerful.

Other new features, which will be available to users who opt in to previous releases as experimental software, include embedding Copilot with the Windows search engine bar, allowing the assistant to sort files, and allowing Copilot to access emails and calendar events for personalised help.

These updates will eventually reach all Windows 11 PCs, not just a subset of high-end machines with AI chips, as Microsoft launches them as Copilot + PCs. Many features will require users to opt in, Microsoft says.

Interestingly, Microsoft’s push for voice control is not entirely new. Long before Windows users activated Cortana, Microsoft’s previous voice assistant, by calling “Hey, Cortana” before “Hey, Copilot” when the company was developing voice assistance in Windows almost a decade ago.

That effort did not catch on, partly because the software response was limited to only a few requests, and many users found it uncomfortable to speak aloud to a computer, especially at work.

Now that the Redmond, Washington-based company has ended Windows 10 support, cybersecurity companies and consumer public interest groups warned that millions of users are still left behind with older PCs that do not receive the Windows 11 reminders to update to Windows 11.