Windows 10 should get Microsoft’s Copilot AI – a feature that was previously exclusive to Windows 11 – in the near future, and some users might benefit from the desktop-based assistant quicker than you think.
As you may have noticed, Copilot came to Windows 10 last week, but only in testing for consumers (Windows 10 Home, and non-business Pro editions). And we’ve just had a clarification about how Copilot will be deployed to Windows 10 users.
As Windows Latest spotted, in a blog post penned earlier this week, Microsoft tells us: “Copilot will begin rolling out to devices running Home and unmanaged [consumer] Pro editions of Windows 10, version 22H2 in the near term. We will roll out this experience in phases using Controlled Feature Rollout (CFR) technology over several months.”
Notice that the full rollout will begin in the ‘near term’ so that certainly suggests we’ll be seeing Copilot in Windows 10 soon enough.
However, it won’t be for everyone. As noted, Copilot will be pushed out in stages, so only some users will get it, and then its reach will gradually be expanded.
In short, a lucky few – presuming you want Copilot, mind – could be getting the AI assistant quite soon indeed.
The deployment of Copilot in Windows 10 will mirror that of Windows 11, we’re also told, meaning that it’ll only come to the US and North America first, as well as parts of Asia and South America. Other regions will be covered down the line.
Analysis: Driving adoption of Copilot
It makes sense that Microsoft would want to get Copilot live in Windows 10 as soon as possible.
After all, witness the remarkable turnaround from the previous announcement that Windows 10 would get no major new features, to suddenly adding the biggest new feature of all from Windows 11. This is presumably the result of Microsoft wanting to drive up the numbers of those using its AI – and Windows 10 users are a billion strong, of course. That’s a very big number indeed.
If this is true, and Microsoft is looking to tap into the Windows 10 user base to this end, then the company will likely want to move sooner rather than later.
More broadly, it seems that Microsoft wants to jam Copilot into pretty much everything it can. As an example, Windows Latest also flagged up the addition of Copilot to the command line in Windows 11 (and presumably Windows 10 eventually).
The theory is that Copilot in Windows 10 will be pretty much equivalent to the Windows 11 version, but as we stand at the beginning of the porting process to the older OS, that isn’t yet true, and the initial incarnation is more limited. Mind you, it’s still a barebones affair in Windows 11, truth be told, and Microsoft has a lot of work to do to fulfill its vision of an AI that can manipulate all manner of settings at the user’s request.