MICROSOFT GIVES COPILOT ACCESS TO LOCAL FILES AND PC ACTIONS

Microsoft has unveiled an upgrade to Copilot that gives the AI system access to local files on Windows PCs and the ability to carry out actions across the operating system, according to the company. The feature, which Microsoft calls "Hybrid Intelligence," allows apps and tools to draw on a mix of local and cloud-based AI models depending on the task. Microsoft's EVP of Copilot, Jacob Andreou, demonstrated the system at a Windows and Surface event, showing an AI agent called Autopilot searching folders to find tax documents, renaming and zipping the files, and drafting an email to an accountant with the attachment included. Microsoft said Hybrid Intelligence features will reach Copilot over the coming months. Pavan Davuluri, described by Microsoft as its EVP of Windows and Devices, said the approach makes Windows "the most secure platform for agents."

Microsoft said the hybrid approach is built on a model router that decides whether to use a local model or a cloud-based model such as those from OpenAI or Anthropic, depending on the complexity or sensitivity of a task. Local AI agents are intended to run inside what Microsoft calls Execution Containers, described as sandboxes with permissions applied at runtime. Microsoft is also extending support for its Windows ML inference framework to Llama.cpp, an inference engine for running AI models locally, which it said should allow the software to use a wider range of hardware accelerators. The announcement came alongside a new Surface Laptop Ultra, which uses an Nvidia system-on-chip rather than an Intel processor.

Microsoft said hybrid intelligence functionality will roll out to GitHub Copilot, its AI coding assistant, within the next week, with wider availability in the Copilot app following over the following months. The company also showed a new Windows search experience that lets users take quick actions directly from the search bar, such as switching on dark mode, adjusting microphone volume or sending a text message. Davuluri said this search feature will become available on Windows 11 PCs this autumn.