- Microsoft has added new AI-powered features to the Windows Photos app
- Its new features include improved optical character recognition and editing tools
- The update is only Live partial to Windows Insider users, with the features that are expected to roll out in the coming weeks
Microsoft has rolled a new update to the Windows Photos app that adds copilot support and a number of new features designed to make the program more user-friendly and useful in general.
As discovered by MspowerUser, the biggest change of Windows Photos app is the new Copilot button now available to some insider users.
New features supported by the company’s AI-driven assistant include improved optical character recognition (OCR) with web search integration, which includes the ability to scan text with over 160 languages recognized.
In addition, the new update has added a “Search in Web” button that scans the text within the images and the current settings based on those who are said to be particularly convenient to find sources of documents and screens.
The driven by Copilot is also the new drop -down menu with fast access that has more advanced options for editing images. Currently, these are: Edit with photos, delete objects with photos, create with designer and visual search with bing (if you want to use the Microsoft-supported search engine specifically).
It is likely that less exciting (but still useful) are the new shortcuts available in File Explorer, which can also be used from the desktop. They offer simple access with a click to the aforementioned drop -down menu without even having to be in the app (or look at pictures).
Copilot not only offers creation opportunities, but also improves through the photo app gallery. Photos now appear in subfolders and keep things more organized with suggestions for content types. A new dedicated button offers AI-driven editing functionality with tips to improve an image in a handful of different ways.
Microsoft has also introduced some minor bug fixes, including small revisions of the image creator and Restyle image features to copilot, which are said to speed up things. It also means that generated images can be stored under different names without as much trouble as before.
All of these changes are slowly dripped to Windows insiders, so it is unknown exactly when everyone will benefit from the new changes, but we estimate that it will be in the next few weeks.
A genuine use case for the photo app and copilot
It’s fair to say that the photos in Windows 11 has never really been something you would have wanted to have spent a lot of time on.
For most people, it’s a simple (and usually fast enough) way to browse through images stored on the hard drive and little else. However, supported by Copilot is now a package of new functionality offered, including image recognition and powerful editing tools that can give you more reason to open it and play with things.
Since launching in February 2023, Microsoft Copilot has become a greater focus in the company’s strategy, especially about some of the best laptops and the best ultrabooks.
Of course, to make use of the majority of these features, you need a laptop with an NPU (Neural Treatment Unit) to use AI workloads in the first place. Whether with Intels Lunar Lake, AMDS Ryzen AI chips or Qualcomms Snapdragon X line, all the best portable CPUs now have built -in NPUs. We recommend reading up on all differences to see what’s right for you.
