Microsoft Notepad has been around since the earlier days of the PC. 1983 to be precise. I’m older than it, but just about.
The idea is to jot down a few notes in plain text. It doesn’t have to be perfect prose. It doesn’t have to be ready to publish. It can just be a stream of consciousness. Something to refer back to, you know. A bloody shopping list!
So why in the name of everything that’s holy does Windows Notepad need generative AI writing tools? The answer is it doesn’t. But Microsoft’s throw enough Copilot at the wall and see what sticks approach pervades.
They’ve talked about it in a blog that tells us Notepad, Paint and the Snipping Tool are all getting some new AI features via the latest Windows Insider builds for the best Windows laptops.
The company writes in a blog: “With this update, we are introducing the ability to write new content in Notepad using generative AI. The new write feature helps you quickly draft text based on your prompt, making it easy to start from a blank page or build upon existing content with AI-powered assistance.”
Copilot. Everything. Everywhere. All the time. It’ll be enabled by default but “if you prefer, you can disable AI features in app settings,” Microsoft adds.
In the Snipping Tool Microsoft says the generative AI intervention enables users “to precisely capture content on your screen without the need to crop or resize it post-capture on your Copilot+ PC.”
The company says the Perfect Screenshot feature will “intelligently resize based on the content in your selection.” This one actually does sound kind of useful.
Paint is adding a sticker generator, a smart selection tool that “uses AI to help you isolate and edit individual elements in your image.”
Opinion
Get used to it. Microsoft is putting Copilot in everything. It has staked its future on AI. But look what Google just laid out at I/O this week and tell me Microsoft is cutting edge? Microsoft is shoving AI into apps that don’t need it, Google is genuinely transforming search using its Gemini tools. There are levels to this and it feels like Google surged ahead in this week where both companies held their developer conferences.
