- Microsoft has patched a loophole in Windows Copilot
- Copilot will no longer inadvertently aid in unlicensed OS copies
- The company has yet to tackle the wider issue available online
Microsoft has updated Windows Copilot to prevent the AI-powered assistant from recommending third-party tools to aid in the piracy of its popular operating system.
Previously, it's claimed that Windows Copilot was not only recommending the use of third-party tools, but was also outlining ways to bypass Microsoft's licensing system where other AI programs, such as ChatGPT, were not generating activation keys for the operating system.
When testing Windows Copilot for workarounds, it will now completely reject any prompts for activation codes, third-party tools, and how-to information. Additionally, it stresses how unauthorized copies of the operating system are illegal, violate the terms of service, and recommends contacting official Microsoft support to get a legitimate copy.
Despite the Windows Copilot loophole getting plugged, it goes to show Microsoft's commitment to refining its AI assistant, which has been a core component of the operating system as laptops (and newer desktop processors) have utilized dedicated NPUs to better aid AI workloads. However, the technology is still in its infancy, which is causing some embarrassing issues, such as this one.
With that all said, many methods of unlicensed and authorized Windows 11 activations are still available online, they are just not being actively promoted by Microsoft's own AI assistant. It's about getting things under control as AI-generated content becomes more widely adopted.
A step forward for policing AI content
One of the major privacy concerns around AI has been the unregulated and unauthorized way that it can scrape and produce content for the end user. With Microsoft's Copilot, it was previously (inadvertently) being tricked into showing users ways of bypassing Windows licensing protocols. While it never directly gave out working activation codes, it was making things as easy as possible in other respects. Certainly not something Microsoft would like.
There have been discussions around updates, upgrading and alleged downgrading of Copilot since it first emerged in November 2023. In October 2024, it received a substantial visual makeover, and was able to interact with online and local (on the device) content.
It's a bid to make Copilot stand out against the bulk of its AI-powered rivals such as X's Grok, Google Gemini, and Open AI's ChatGPT. While some of its alternatives may help users bypass Microsoft's security measures, at least it won't be happening on its own platform anymore.
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