Why doesn't Copilot help you fix problems in Windows?

Microsoft is investing heavily in Copilot to take Windows 11 to the next level. The company integrated Copilot into Bing and then added it to Windows 11 with the 23H2 update. However, although Microsoft positions Copilot as an AI assistant that can make life more efficient, it still doesn't quite live up to those claims.

Although available on Windows, Copilot doesn't do anything spectacular beyond presenting web results in a summary format. But why hasn't it done more and will that change any time soon?

Copilot has answers but they are not helpful

When you enter a query in Copilot, it fetches web results and summarizes them with references. Copilot also supports plugins that can generate more relevant responses. However, the results for Windows queries are not very useful and are often generic. Answers to simple queries like "how to delete a file" are relatively okay. But a simple web search will yield similar results and faster.

Copilot can perform common tasks like changing some settings on a Windows 11 PC. For example, Copilot can be asked to change themes. It also supports voice commands, eliminating the need to type queries.

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But Copilot's current intelligence level is not commendable. It typically fails to perform tasks such as changing system settings, which aren't many to begin with. From experience, if the exact syntax of a command is not followed, Copilot will not execute the command and instead provide a web response.

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OS-level AI should have even more capabilities

Microsoft mentions that you can use Copilot to troubleshoot errors, but Windows 11 has a Get Help app. The troubleshooter performs some preliminary checks to fix problems with the device. But that is not an effective method to fix all problems that arise on Windows.

If you ask Copilot about a problem like "Microsoft Store not downloading apps", it will come up with a series of possible methods to try, from other sources of course. It does not specify the exact process that can help you.

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Copilot does not act independently to perform troubleshooting steps. Another minor annoyance is that Copilot will always reassert whether you want to perform a particular action or not, causing an operation to take longer and require more user input than necessary set.

It may be too early to label OS-level AI as Copilot's current skills are limited to performing a few actions and citing sources from the web. This is just a web application implementation and is not deeply integrated with system applications. However, Microsoft is already planning the next wave of AI PCs to have a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to perform all AI tasks on Windows 11 PCs.

What needs to be improved in the future?

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To harness the true power of AI on Windows 11, Copilot needs to innovate even more. The onboard NPU can handle tasks faster without overloading the CPU.

By using this component, upcoming features like Windows Studio Effects can work natively. Plans to integrate AI assistant into Notepad, File Explorer and Paint. Microsoft seems interested in introducing more AI features, which could also make Copilot an effective troubleshooting tool. If done correctly, it can automatically identify and fix minor issues with Windows 11 PCs, and send detailed reports to the Feedback center on complex issues.

Upcoming AI PCs mention NPU as a mandatory requirement, which raises the debate about current vs old generation Windows PCs. Can they utilize the full power of system-level AI? In any case, it's an issue that Microsoft will have to address. Waiting for the hardware to catch up may not be the only plan, because Copilot, in its current version, is not yet complete.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 10 May 2024