Microsoft Is Rolling Out AI Generation Tools To… Notepad
Image via Windows
Not even your basic word processor is safe from the clutches of artificial intelligence. After boosting Paint with DALL-E support and retiring WordPad, Microsoft appears to be testing AI writing assistance features on Notepad, one of its oldest applications, for Windows 11.
Part of the company’s wider vision of integrating artificial intelligence across its product suite, the no-frills text-editing software is expected to incorporate a new feature called ‘Cowriter’, as gathered from images hidden within the app.
This tool, powered by the Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, aims to enhance the user experience by providing AI-driven writing assistance directly within the application.
While Microsoft has not officially confirmed this update, elements in the updated app package with names like ‘CoWriterCreditLimitDialog’, ‘CoWriterDropDownButton’, and ‘CoWriterWaitlistDialog’ suggest functionalities like a credit system for AI usage and a dropdown button for accessing AI features are on the horizon.
Cowriter https://t.co/bokzaqRPzJ pic.twitter.com/m5Q6saOt1s
— Tero Alhonen💙💛 (@teroalhonen) January 9, 2024
Coding enthusiast PhantomOcean3 also shared a screenshot on X (formerly Twitter) depicting a test version of Notepad for Windows 11, which displays a menu with options such as ‘Rewrite’, ‘Make shorter’, ‘Make longer’, ‘Change tone’, and ‘Change format’. All told, these features, don’t appear to be operational as of yet.
New Notepad feature soon™ï¸ pic.twitter.com/yv6axwuG2e
— PhantomOcean3 â˜ƒï¸ (@PhantomOfEarth) January 9, 2024
Notepad’s supposed credit system could limit AI usage, introducing a usage quota model where users are allocated initial credits for AI-assisted content creation. Once these credits are used, AI-generated content could still be possible, albeit at a slower pace.
The Cowriter option is anticipated to be initially available to testers in the Windows Insider Program.
This update to Notepad aligns with Microsoft’s recent efforts to weave AI more deeply into the Windows experience. Most recently, the company introduced a new Copilot key—the first new key on PC keyboards in nearly three decades—aimed at facilitating easier access to AI capabilities within the operating system.
[via Neowin, Windows Central, Windows Latest, images via various sources]
