What is Windows 11 'AI Explorer'? Everything you need to know about Microsoft's upcoming defining AI PC feature
www.windowscentral.com
Windows 11 will be supercharged with AI designed to enhance productivity and search across the OS.
  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    It’s an open secret that Microsoft is gearing up to supercharge Windows 11 this summer with next-gen AI capabilities that will enable the OS to be context aware across any apps and interfaces, as well as remember everything you do on your PC to enhance user productivity and search.

    These new capabilities are set to ship as part of a new app internally called “AI Explorer,” which I’m told will be unveiled during Microsoft’s special Windows event on May 20.

    The feature is also said to be exclusive to devices powered by Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X series chips, at least at first, as Intel and AMD play catchup in the NPU race.

    AI Explorer is able to do more than just remember the things you do on your computer, it’s also able to analyze what’s currently on-screen and provide contextual suggestions and tasks based on what it can see.

    This capability is called Screen Understanding, and I’m told one of the big selling points of AI Explorer is that it’s supposed to work across any app, with no developer input required.

    The existence of Rewind.ai proves that this is a concept that can be done, and Microsoft is essentially building its own version into Windows 11 that offloads the resources required for such a feature onto NPUs to keep the load away from the CPU.

    The original article contains 1,076 words, the summary contains 225 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
    0·
    2 months ago

    as if windows wasn’t already bloated and slow as hell, now your CPU is running a real time audit! Now that’s Quality Service with a capital kewoo

  • GrymEdm@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    I try to swear only when I mean it, and fuck off Microsoft. I’d rather take the few seconds or even couple minutes it takes to type out the beginning of an e-mail or set up a new app than have something recording my every move. The development will be something like: in 2025 it will be offline and meant to optimize efficiency. In 2026 it will be online and meant to optimize advertising and updates. Finally in 2027 it will be aimed at sales of extensive data to companies who desire to know what habits users exhibit and so on. I have no faith whatsoever that my interests will outweigh the potential profits of knowing what every PC user is doing all the time.

    • lemmylommy@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 months ago

      In 2025 „much“ of it is „rendered on device“. Meaning that a part of it is not. It also leaves open what is uploaded to Microsoft.

  • kubica@kbin.social
    0·
    2 months ago

    I’m told that much of this experience is rendered on-device and does not reach out to the cloud to process information.

    So far. Gotta boil the frog slowly.

  • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
    0·
    2 months ago

    It’s probably their shock and awe strategy. They are pushing this anti privacy shit hard and then pull back on it on the next release. But in reality they leave a lot of that shit in. Like how Windows 10 is worse than windows 7, but it’s better than 8 so 10 feels like an improvement for people.

  • fluckx@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    They really want me to shift my gaming PC to Linux. Gaming is the only reason it’s still in windows 10.

    But now? Ads? Full time spying? And they choose to do all this at a time when proton is making gaming on Linux easier than ever?

    Okay then. Heck. I’ll gladly help my friends install Linux in their main device.

    Hey government. This includes all your devices too. I’m sure you’ll be able to turn it off, and by some bug oversight it just hides everything but not actually turn it off.

    Do something about it. Stop blindly trusting bigcorp to do the right thing. They’ve proven time and time again they WILL NOT.

      • fluckx@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        I can’t make my mind up over a distro tbh.

        I’ve used Ubuntu for a long time, but I absolutely hate snap packages.

        Doubting between endeavoros, garuda and popos. Imnsure they’re all viable, though my main experience has been with apt and Debian based distros

          • fluckx@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 months ago

            I’m used to gnome, and I currently tried out garuda. It’s a tad weird as there’s no app bar anywhere with “running apps”. If I execute it again it just starts a new one. Which is strange behaviour.

            It works quite well for what it should do, but I’m feeling a bit lost in it. It also feels if I’d want to do something else ( like coding ) that it wouldn’t be very intuitive.

            The nobara gnome screenshot looks similar ( no app drawer ). Are you running it in gnome or kde/official?

            • akakunai@lemmy.ca
              0·
              2 months ago

              It’s Debian instead of normal mint.

              …but seriously, it uses Debian as a base for its upstream packages instead of Ubuntu. They’re very similar and you won’t notice a difference.

              I’ll disagree and suggest to go with the latest release of the normal (Ubuntu-based) Mint instead. I prefer Debian over Ubuntu, but there’s realistically little difference. And if you’re just getting into the Linux world, you’ll want to be using what’s used by most people in case you run into problems and want to follow written instructions or ask for support.

              • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
                0·
                2 months ago

                I agree, I don’t suggest newbies run less popular distros. Overcoming the learning curve is easier when you have lots of documentation and support.

        • lightnegative@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 months ago

          I’m currently using Endeavouros (btw) but Fedora is a solid distro as well.

          Used it for years until just recently when I got a new laptop and decided to give managed Arch a go

        • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
          0·
          2 months ago

          Mint & popOS are both Debian tree distros and Ubuntu derivatives without the snap cruft.

          They work fine for gaming in my experience as any linux native game is always tested against ubuntu and I’ve had no issues with Steam/proton for windows games.

          No EAC anti cheat compatability for Linux of any flavour of course.

        • Lexam@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          With 24 It let’s me choose Debian instead of snap for some apps at least.

          • fluckx@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 months ago

            It isn’t. But they are pushing it more aggressively. The latest release will tell you it can’t even open .deb files anymore. The Ubuntu store will load indefinitely and not be able to install it. ( read it in a blog post ). And it’s opening deb files in archive manager by default rather than the software centre.

            Even if it is just a bug. It is one they are refusing to fix ( and one that I can’t imagine being difficult to solve ).

            It still works over CLI for now, which is how I usually install deb’s. But if I have to go online to download all kinds of debs it feels like I’m back in the 90s windows downloading a bunch of exe’s I no have to manage myself.

            It’s more of a statement against Ubuntu and how canonical is handling the snap packages. Maybe it won’t be so easy to disable it in the future. Or maybe apt will barely be able to install anything anymore if you disable snap since that seems to be all they went you to run.

            In any case. I don’t really like the direction they’re headed, and I’d rather not have to distro hop in two years because canonical decide to make snap mandatory.

            Snap has not worked out well for me in the past :(.

          • VindictiveJudge@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 months ago

            I’ve been considering putting Mint on my system, then adding the new version of Unity that Canonical doesn’t contribute to. Last time I used Linux was when Ubuntu finally had Unity working well and I really miss the HUD thing. Tapping alt to search the menus for the tool I wanted in Gimp was very nice.

          • olutukko@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 months ago

            I mean kinda, but there are still some software and version differences that can make some stuff behave differently. my brother has been tinkering with chromebook with touch screen. and he hasn’t found a distro yet where everything works. in some distros sound doesn’t work, in some touchscreen doesn’t work, in some keyboard doesn’t work etc.

            so while the experience is mostly same there are still some differences, they do show up easier with odd hardware though

    • Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net
      0·
      2 months ago

      Hey government. This includes all your devices too. I’m sure you’ll be able to turn it off, and by some bug oversight it just hides everything but not actually turn it off.

      My work computer upgraded to 11 last week and I’m sure I’m giving away people’s personal info via the OS

      • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
        0·
        2 months ago

        My work is also rolling out the Win11 updates, and I am wondering if they knew about this. There are many things that require secret/TS clearance via temp badge and pass on certain project as well as low level sensitive documents.

        If Win11 is recording all of this, they have committed about 100,000 felonies by illegally recording these documents from not just us but all the government contractors.

  • Teon@kbin.social
    0·
    2 months ago

    Products you pay for should not have the ability to exploit you.
    If micro$oft wants to provide free computer software to all it’s exploited users, that’s a different conversation.
    Until then you have better options available.

  • Promethiel@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    I can read, count, and combine them into steps followed in a sequential order. Can I Linux? I think I can Linux. These fucks are taking the piss.

    • Beefy-Tootz@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 months ago

      I’m gonna be honest with you, Linux is so much more simple than people make it out to be. If it’s your first time dipping into that world, you can grab Ubuntu, KDE neon, or Linux Mint, all of which are very stable and beginner friendly. Ubuntu has a more unique look to it, and neon/mint looks more like windows. You can run and manage both without ever having to open a terminal or dive into any code, just use it like a normal computer and you’ll be fine. I’ve been using Linux since about '08, I’m not a sysadmin or coder or anything like that. I play most of my games in Linux with no problem

      • Promethiel@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 months ago

        Probably stupid question that I can look up, but I think Linux expounding isn’t a problem here:

        I have an Intel/Nvidia laptop as my only machine right now. I’ve read the jokes about how hard it is to get working peripherals and the jokes about the brains of those who can’t get them to work.

        I’m an amateur web dev (looking to un-amateur) so while a command line isn’t super scary, it sure would feel like work or daunting at least for a bit. I also gotta share the machine.

        So I guess the question is: how true are those peripheral driver issue things for say random stuff like using a Dual Sense controller with (I think this is the right name) Proton for the gaming nights, and am I right in assuming any distro (except those mutable or atomic distributions that seem to be divisive) that is “beginner friendly” with a GUI for the family is still going to enable me to poke into further learning with the CLI, i.e. you don’t sacrifice full featured command line for GUI?

        Silly ahead of myself concern, but if I can avoid needing to learn more PowerShell junk and just focus on learning Bash, that’s actually a bonus I hadn’t thought of.

        • Beefy-Tootz@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 months ago

          Those are great questions! Dualsense is supported through drivers provided by PlayStation and to my best recollection, most features work out of the box. Last I recall, the adaptive triggers weren’t functional outside of normal trigger activity and the audio jack doesn’t audio. Proton is a tool that Steam/Valve made to make most windows games work within Linux without needing a lot of tinkering. I’ve had mostly success with it, however some games still won’t work, usually due to anti cheat software. There’s a website called protondb.com that can be used to check the compatibility of most games and it usually offers tips for getting the best performance depending on the game.

          As for the GUI vs CLI question, you’ll still have full access to the terminal or command line through the terminal emulator. Think of it like the cmd prompt in Windows. You sacrifice nothing by using a graphical interface and can still do all your terminal work without a GUI if you’d prefer, that’s entirely up to your preference. For example, with Ubuntu, you have your software center, which is essentially an app store that you can use to download different programs and/or utilities. You can use that, or you can open a terminal emulator and type in something like “sudo apt install Firefox” and it will do the same thing.

          Linux can be as complicated or simple as you want to make it, as the owner of the computer, everything is entirely up to you. You can rely entirely on GUI based applications and never run into a problem. I do a little of both, but I’ve also got several years of experience tinkering around with things.

          I don’t know what your current level of proficiency is outside of webdev, but if you’re familiar with virtual machines, like VMware, you can spin up a virtual environment and test drive Linux without having to modify your existing computer at all. With this being a shared computer, you could always dualboot it. That’s when you have two different operating systems installed at the same time. When you power on your PC, you’ll get a menu to pick windows or Linux and can switch by restarting your PC to get back to that menu. Windows files will be accessible in Linux, however Linux files are usually not accessible in Windows.

          Drivers are pretty easy, most are already built into the Linux kernel. For Nvidia drivers, you have open source drivers, or proprietary drivers. The open source ones are readily available in almost every distro, and the propriety (better performing) drivers are a few clicks away. Most times, you’ll be asked if you want the proprietary drivers during your installation and won’t have to mess with them ever again.

          I know I hit you with a full essay and a half, and it may seem like a lot, but I promise you it’s really not as complicated as people like to make it seem. My elderly mother ran Linux on a laptop I gave her years ago without even noticing for years. If you have questions, there’s a million and a half different places to ask, including my DMs. Feel free to shoot me a question, and I’ll do a little digging to see what I can teach you.

          • Promethiel@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 months ago

            This was amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it all out! I really do have no reason to not dual boot. I only have one site community to manage, and I had help with the original configuration so my exposure to Linux has mostly been the occasional CentOS foray to update the stack throughout the years and start a few experiments that fizzled (but not that backup script! Woo!). I guess seeing it all in one place is just what I needed; there’s no reason to give it a VM a try. I already got WSL installed to “try Ubuntu” I told myself, but well, didn’t have much of a project to try. Your “essay” was the information I needed to get me to just give dual booting a try, work on daily driving it (I write as a hobby, and I heard there’s a trillion of good open source note apps out there, so there’s mini-project one, get a dual boot and a basic “Music,coffee,notes,wordprocessor” no-frills inst–Oh, I see how it starts with y’all. Thanks for your time, truly!

            Edit: Missed important word.

            • Beefy-Tootz@lemmy.world
              0·
              2 months ago

              Lol anytime my dude! There’s plenty of options out there for you. I personally use vim for journalling and some other light text stuff, but that’s a fairly minimal terminal tool. You can go that route, or you can grab Libre Office (Microsoft office alternative), or whatever else best fits your wants and needs. Like I said, my DMs are open if you have questions, but I do want to reiterate that I am not a professional, I’m just some dude who learned about this junk in highschool and has been using it as your average everyday computer nerd. I hope you not only learn a few things, but I hope you have fun exploring. If it doesn’t work out, oh well, nuke it and go back to what works best for you. It’s your computer, use it how you want to, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.

              One last recommendation before I hop off my soapbox, assuming you give Ubuntu a shot, I’d recommend checking out some of their different “flavors”. They all work the same under the hood, but give you a different UI to work within. You can swap whenever, or run all of them, it’s your call. I prefer Gnome (the G is not silent), it’s Ubuntu’s default, but there’s Mate (pronounced like the tea, mah-tay), Kde (short for Kool desktop environment, no I’m not joking), xfce, unity, and more. Other than that, have fun!

      • AProfessional@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        In many ways it’s easier to use than Windows, as long as there aren’t expectations that it works like Windows.

    • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      2 months ago

      Install Ventoy onto a USB, copy over a few distro images onto it, and now you can boot up and try a few.

      If you know anyone running Linux just run the same distro as them unless it’s one of the intimidating ones: easiest way to beat the learning curve is to work with someone else. Otherwise grab a beginner-friendly distro. I once started with Ubuntu but today I’d probably start with PopOS

    • HackerJoe@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      2 months ago

      Yes. That’s why I use Win7 for legacy stuff and Linux for everything else. On Win7 it was still easy to deactivate (disable a few Tasks and a few checkboxes). Since the updates stopped that PC is super stable too.

      no need to lecture me about muh sEcuRitY uPdAtEs. I know. As if any Microsoft Software was ever secure.