Windows 10 is back, and it’s getting Microsoft’s AI-powered Copilot assistant

Enlarge (credit: Microsoft)

In the last two years, Windows 11 has ushered in significant updates for most of Windows’ built-in apps, and things like the system tray, Start menu, Settings app, and taskbar have continuously evolved with each new update. But few of these changes have been made available for Windows 10, which is still, by every publicly available metric, the most-used version of Windows on the planet. (Notable exceptions include the redesigned Outlook app and continued development of Microsoft Edge.)

Today, the company is making a major exception: The new AI-powered Windows Copilot feature from Windows 11 is being backported to Windows 10 and will be available in the Windows Insider Release Preview channel for Windows 10. This version of Copilot, which will be branded as a preview at first, will be available for the Home and Pro versions of Windows 10. But it won’t be available for the “managed” versions of Windows 10 just yet—Enterprise and Education editions, as well as Pro PCs that are joined to a domain or are otherwise managed by an IT department.

“We are hearing great feedback on Copilot in Windows (in preview) and we want to extend that value to more people,” writes Microsoft in a separate blog post. “For this reason, we are revisiting our approach to Windows 10 and will be making additional investments to make sure everyone can get the maximum value from their Windows PC including Copilot in Windows (in preview).”