- Microsoft is rolling out an update for the Copilot app
- It changes the home page to be more like the Start menu
- The rollout is underway, but it may take some time to reach all Windows 11 users
Microsoft is changing the Copilot app in Windows 11 so that it presents the user with an experience more like the Start menu, rather than the current chat-based home page.
Windows Latest reports that a new update for the Copilot app, which is currently being rolled out to all Windows 11 users via the Microsoft Store, applies a substantial makeover to the home page for the AI assistant (as seen in testing previously).
Currently there's a chat-style interface where your typed query is central, much like the web version of Copilot (as shown in the image above), but the new app transforms the home page into something more akin to the Start menu (see the image below).
As Windows Latest points out, you still get the greeting from Copilot, and the key query (chat) box, but there are now four new panels adorning the screen providing various extras.
These include links to jump straight back into files you've recently used, as well as conversations with Copilot you've had in the past, that you can rekindle should you wish.
A further panel offers the ability to 'Work on Copilot Pages' which allows for working on writing and coding projects (that require plentiful editing and revisions), and a fourth panel offers guided help with apps. The latter kicks off a Copilot Vision session with the app in question, giving you tips and advice on using the application.
Windows Latest also uncovered references that suggest Copilot's ChatGPT-powered Agent is coming to the AI app in Windows 11. Agent offers the ability to carry out certain tasks for you, such as booking travel tickets, and the tech site believes it might arrive in the next update for the Copilot app (add seasoning appropriately).
Analysis: the Start of a bigger change?
As noted, all this has previously been seen in testing, but is apparently now rolling out in full. That said, the rollout is an ongoing process, and not everyone will see the new home page for the Copilot app right now – it'll take a while to filter through to all Windows 11 PCs.
The broad idea here is hooking the Copilot app's tentacles into more of Windows 11. In other words, Microsoft is going beyond simple AI queries with the app, and integrating more of what you might need to do in the operating system. So, for example, you can click on a document flagged in the recently-used files panel of the Copilot app, and it'll fire it up in Word on the desktop.
Granted, the new app's home page isn't all that like the Start menu, but you can see it taking cues from that central part of the Windows 11 interface, and that raises an interesting prospect. Right now, we're looking at a Start menu-style design in the Copilot app; but in the future, will that idea be flipped around? By which I mean: will we be looking at a Start menu that's fully based on the Copilot AI?
If we take the infusion of AI into Windows 11 – which is clearly happening – to its logical conclusion, Copilot is going to get everywhere, and the Start menu may end up looking something like this new take on the Copilot app. It'll center on queries (including local searches) driven by the AI, and offer not just quick access to your apps, but help with them – and doubtless we can expect Copilot to power recommendations, too. (Maybe that'll make the latter more helpful; or maybe not, and they'll continue to be a vehicle for Microsoft's nudges-bordering-on-ads).
This feels like an obvious way forward for Microsoft, so perhaps with this Copilot app redesign we've just caught our first glimpse of the future of the Start menu in Windows 12 (or whatever the next-gen OS ends up being called). Or maybe this AI thing will all blow over (but you don't believe that any more than I do, do you?).
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