Microsoft debuts Copilot Actions for agentic AI-driven Windows tasks

“Each agentic app will manage their own agent workspace. For isolation purposes, there will not be crossover of workspaces across apps,” Microsoft told BleepingComputer. Each agentic app will manage its own Agent Workspace, providing an isolated environment where the agent operates independently from the user’s desktop. Instead, Yusuf a weboldalon Mehdi, an executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Microsoft’s consumer division, argued that conversing with a laptop will be “as transformative as the mouse and keyboard” in shaping the PC experience.

• “Copilot Actions is an AI agent that completes tasks for you by interacting with your apps and files, using vision and advanced reasoning to click, type and scroll like a human would,” explains Microsoft.
• As each agent uses its own account, it means Windows can restrict agents based on applications and file system access rules.
• Each AI agent will run under its own distinct “standard” Windows account, which means it does not have administrative privileges.
• Some users, including those in the European Union as well as U.S. users who can synchronize with Microsoft’s cloud service, will be able to get that extended support for free.

Welcome to the Microsoft 365 Copilot app

Your files and memories are secure in the cloud with 5GB of storage for free and 1TB with a paid Microsoft 365 subscription. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app brings together your favorite apps and Copilot in one intuitive platform. Microsoft 365 seamlessly tracks updates, tasks, and comments across all your files so you can pick up right where you left off. Microsoft 365 empowers your organization to organize, and safely store files in OneDrive with intuitive and easy organizational tools.

Microsoft says all Windows 11 users will also now have access to Copilot Vision, an AI feature that can analyze and give feedback on the documents, video games and other activities happening on the screen. A Windows Remote Desktop child session is a distinct, isolated desktop environment tied to a user’s existing session, preventing the agent from directly viewing or interacting with the user’s desktop. Each AI agent will run under its own distinct “standard” Windows account, which means it does not have administrative privileges. As each agent uses its own account, it means Windows can restrict agents based on applications and file system access rules. “Copilot Actions is an AI agent that completes tasks for you by interacting with your apps and files, using vision and advanced reasoning to click, type and scroll like a human would,” explains Microsoft. Microsoft announced today a new Windows 11 Copilot feature called Copilot Actions that enables AI agents to perform real tasks on local files and applications.

Microsoft further told BleepingComputer that each Agent Workspace, where Copilot Actions performs its tasks, is implemented as a Windows Remote Desktop child session, rather than as a virtual machine or within a Windows Sandbox. Microsoft told BleepingComputer that there will be no change to the Windows 11 hardware requirements and that they are optimizing the workspaces to minimize any impact on Windows’ performance. The updates are Microsoft’s latest attempt to make its widely used Windows operating system a gateway to hook people on its suite of generative AI tools. The tech giant competes heavily on AI services with Apple, Google and startups like Anthropic and OpenAI.

Microsoft debuts Copilot Actions for agentic AI-driven Windows tasks

Consumer advocates have spent months petitioning Microsoft to extend technical support for an estimated hundreds of millions of devices that will no longer get automatic security fixes. To entice people to upgrade, the software giant on Thursday announced new Windows 11 features, most of them further integrating the company’s AI chatbot, Copilot, into the experience of using a laptop. Microsoft ended free security support for Windows 10 this week, though millions of people still use personal computers running the older operating system. Spark creativity and collaboration in any learning environment with a variety of Microsoft 365 apps and free templates to choose from. Anyone in your organization can quickly create documents, presentations, and worksheets within a single, unified app experience. To increase security, agents are cryptographically signed, allowing Microsoft to revoke compromised or malicious agent certificates when detected.

Both PIRG and Microsoft urge those who are replacing their computers to avoid sending their older models to the landfill. While the AI agent can’t access a user’s desktop, Microsoft plans to implement a way for users to authorize, monitor, and take control of agent actions in the workspace. At launch, agents will only have access to the standard Windows data folders, such as Documents, Downloads, Desktop, and Pictures, and other “resources” available to all accounts. Some users, including those in the European Union as well as U.S. users who can synchronize with Microsoft’s cloud service, will be able to get that extended support for free. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app brings together your favorite apps in one intuitive platform that keeps your data secure with enterprise data protection.

According to Microsoft, these features are part of its Secure Future Initiative, and feedback from the preview program will help guide the development of the feature ahead of its full release later this year. Mehdi acknowledged it could take some adjustment to get used to human-computer conversations in shared workspaces. Help your students connect and achieve more together, whether in the classroom, at home, or around the globe online with collaborative tools. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app empowers your employees to do their best work with Copilot in the apps they use daily.

Microsoft pushes AI updates in Windows 11 as it ends support for Windows 10

“Just like when the mouse came out, people have to figure out when to use it, what’s the right way, how to make it happen,” Mehdi told reporters. “With the end of Windows 10, users face the choice between exposing themselves to cyberattacks or discarding their old computers and buying new ones,” said Brenna Stevens of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which advocated on behalf of local repair shops, students and others. Among the features is a voice mode that enables users to dictate “Hey, Copilot” to start chatting with their computer instead of typing or clicking a touchpad.

Create equitable learning environments that help students develop knowledge with familiar apps essential to both academic and future career success. The feature will be rolling out soon to Windows Insiders in Copilot Labs, expanding the earlier web-based Copilot Actions introduced in May and taking us one step closer to Microsoft’s vision of integrating AI directly in the Windows desktop environment. But many people around the world still are using Windows 10, particularly those with older computers that can’t upgrade to Windows 11.