When it comes to Microsoft’s AI tools, most people probably think of Copilot — even AI PCs are named after it. But readers who have been following early news should know that Copilot was originally meant to replace Bing Chat; it was only later that Microsoft continued to use the name broadly across its own AI tools.
Perhaps seeing that Apple’s announcement of Apple Intelligence has been quite successful and carries clear brand recognition, Microsoft also wants its own AI to have this effect. Recently, reports have emerged that Microsoft plans to rebrand, renaming it Windows Intelligence.
Microsoft appears to be planning to rename its AI tools to Windows Intelligence.
According to a report from Windows Central, Microsoft now appears to be considering creating a new brand name to consolidate Windows AI features.
This mainly stems from a few weeks ago, when an X.com user shared that in the latest version of Windows 11, they discovered a file called AppPrivacy.adml, which mentions the name “Windows Intelligence.” Specifically, it is a setting option for “Allow applications to access Windows Intelligence.”
Let Apps Access Windows Intelligence pic.twitter.com/gbyU4JdmG5
— https://tero.bsky.social 💙💛 (@teroalhonen) October 18, 2024
While this doesn’t necessarily indicate that Microsoft wants to change its current brand name, given the company’s steady work in AI over the past year, I think the possibility is quite high.
The current Copilot definitely makes people think of Microsoft right away, but it’s just a standalone AI feature, and Microsoft seems intent on turning Windows into an AI-driven operating system (the Recall feature proves this). If they renamed it Windows Intelligence, that would indeed be much better than Copilot—it would feel like AI is integrated into Windows, rather than the current situation where it feels like just an extra AI feature that Windows happens to offer.
But thinking more deeply about it, maybe it’s not about renaming Copilot at all — perhaps the future Windows operating system will be called Windows Intelligence?
If that’s the case, it makes more sense. Just renaming Copilot to Windows Intelligence would only make it look like they’re copying Apple.
Data source:Windows Central
Microsoft’s bigger problem right now: Copilot
For Microsoft, renaming isn’t actually the biggest issue right now — rather, more and more people are saying “Copilot is hard to use,” and even its own employees agree.
According to Business Insider According to the report, on Microsoft’s internal message board, some employees said this update “completely ruined” the Copilot user experience; another employee described “the new Copilot is a major step backward.”
Copilot previously received decent ratings on the App Store, but with the release of the new version update, ratings have noticeably declined, and user reviews have turned negative. For example, in October, more than 250 users gave one-star ratings. Some users also believe this update made Copilot “much slower,” and its practicality has greatly diminished.
By comparison, in September before the update, there were only about 20 one-star ratings.
Source: KOCPC Chinese