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Microsoft started removing Copilot from Windows apps - but not the AI

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 11 Apr 2026 2:07

Microsoft started removing Copilot from Windows apps - but not the AI

Microsoft has started removing its Copilot AI brand from Windows applications.
The company has, in recent years, pushed AI into almost all possible applications - including utilities shipped with Windows. At the same time, every single update that even slightly smelled of AI has been branded with the company's Copilot brand.

Now, a clear rollback has begun, and the first results are already visible. According to Windows Central, Copilot branding and Copilot logos have already been removed from a recent experimental version of Windows 11, at least from Notepad.

However, the AI functionalities have not disappeared; they have only been renamed. So, Notepad's AI-assisted writing mode, previously branded with the Copilot logo, is now simply named the "Writing Tools" menu.



On the other hand, significant updates are apparently coming to Windows applications already this year, as the company has formed a new team whose task is to lighten Windows applications. The team leader states that the majority of Windows applications will be implemented with so-called native code, focusing on the lightness and speed of the applications.

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