Windows 11's first AI-powered feature just got leaked… by Microsoft

Man and woman looking at a laptop in an office

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The next big Windows 11 update is due later this year and one of the new features to look forward to could be an overhauled way to arrange windows and apps on the desktop - powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

According to Windows Latest, an early version of an AI-driven ‘Smart Snap’ layout has been spotted in preview builds set to launch later in the year. While Microsoft has apparently been internally working on Smart Snap, it seems to be hidden away and only works on some configurations.

Windows 11 currently comes with the Snap feature that allows users to have multiple app windows open on a single screen to assist with multitasking and boosting productivity. You can choose between different layouts and sizes so you’re using optimum screen space while working on tasks and not flicking between tabs or apps. You can split between two tabs split in half, three across the screen, or four grids if you’ve got a lot going on.

Sort it out

On Windows 11, Microsoft’s Snap Assist feature automatically pops up when snapping the first window, displaying a little menu with thumbnails to choose from to help organize your screen, so you can choose which window goes where in the layout.

Having access to an early version of the new AI-powered tool, Windows Latest notes that Smart Snap now allows the operating system to remember Snap layouts for certain apps and can restore them with one click.

So, if you’re like me and have a very particular set-up (browser windows one way, music and other apps another way) Smart Snaps will remember and set everything up for you just the way you like it.

While it might not seem like the most exciting use of Artificial Intelligence, this nifty feature will benefit a wide range of users, making multitasking with the same set of apps a breeze. I'm sure it won't be the last AI feature to make its way to Windows 11 either.

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).