- There is a new update for the Edge browser on desktop and mobile
- Microsoft has removed Copilot mode, which arrived on the browser last year
- It’s been replaced by a series of separate AI features, including one that can (with your permission) scan all your open tabs.
Microsoft is removing Copilot mode from Edge, but if you thought AI was moving away from the web browser, think again, because the AI features are actually built right into the app.
Microsoft announced that as part of the latest Edge update, co-pilot mode is being removed from the browser, but new AI features are coming for the desktop version of the app (and the mobile version as well).
The biggest change here is that Copilot can now scan all the tabs you have open in Edge and extract information to answer your queries.
The idea is that if you’re, say, planning to book a meal and are considering different restaurant choices across multiple tabs, you can ask Copilot to compare those options without having to leave your current webpage.
No configuration is required for this; you can simply click on the Copilot icon and ask it to do the work for you in terms of extracting details from those open tabs.
Microsoft explains: “Copilot in Edge, with your permission, reads all open tabs, so you can compare options, surface what matters, and make decisions with less tab-hopping. »
Copilot can go further and – with your permission again, Microsoft emphasizes – the AI can access your browsing history to improve its responses. It can also remember and leverage previous queries.
As Microsoft notes: “Now, with long-term memory on desktop and mobile, Copilot not only draws on what you’ve seen, but can also reference your past chats to provide more relevant help. You always control what Copilot can access.
Additional AI features are also being added in terms of a “Study and Learn” mode, which can break down a topic on a web page you are viewing to create a guided study session, or you can even ask Copilot to compile a quiz on the topic to test your knowledge.
Another AI feature is an inline writing assistant, essentially invoking Copilot to write (or edit) things like social media posts for you in Edge. Copilot can also generate a podcast based on the content of a given web page.
When it comes to Edge for mobile, the browser also benefits from Copilot’s ability to work across all your open tabs to concoct better responses to your queries, as well as other features pulled from the desktop browser. (This includes “Journeys,” which organizes your browsing history into topics, allowing you to pick up where you left off with these threads).
Note that some features are currently reserved for the United States, namely the writing assistant and Journeys on Edge mobile.
Analysis: co-pilot cape engaged
So, the solution adopted by Microsoft is now to effectively hide Copilot. AI isn’t moving away from Edge, but the more direct presence – co-pilot mode, introduced almost a year ago now – is being pushed aside, with AI functionality instead being integrated more subtly into the browser in different ways.
And certainly, some of the features described above could be very useful. The concern for some is privacy, although Microsoft is clear enough that Copilot only has access to your tabs if you click the AI button.
The company specifies: “With Copilot in Edge, your data remains yours. Microsoft only collects what is necessary to improve your experience – or what you choose to provide through personalization settings. »
If you avoid clicking the Copilot icon and don’t enable any of these features in Edge’s settings, there won’t be any privacy issues. Or it shouldn’t be, anyway, but that hasn’t stopped some predictable negative reactions to Microsoft’s latest Edge update.
There are definitely a few Redditors who don’t trust what Microsoft is doing here, and comments like this aren’t uncommon: “Microsoft Edge and privacy don’t belong in the same sentence.” »
Microsoft is trying to change the bad reputation it has suffered since the arrival of Windows 11 – which has worsened considerably with the advent of Copilot in the operating system – and in particular, we now have the great desire to fix everything that is wrong with Windows 11.
However, with skeptical editors saying things like “K2 won’t mean anything” in reaction to this latest move from Edge – K2 is the code name for the project aimed at streamlining Windows 11, unlocking the operating system and making it more capable – it seems Microsoft still has a lot of faith to go.
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