Microsoft may soon be differentiating between what it considers Windows support for artificially intelligent features and its well-known pre-generative chat assistant as new reference to ‘Windows Intelligence’ appear in API code.
Twitter user @teroalhonen posted an appprivacy.adml file where they highlight several instances of LetAppAccessWindowsIntelligence in the file package. While we don’t get much more explanation from the Twitter user or Microsoft at this point, it’s interesting to see that this newly spotted support for developers references Windows Intelligence instead of Copilot.
The reference to Windows Intelligence may just be new technical phrasing for upcoming Copilot branded API features Windows that will help apps take advantage of, or it could be Microsoft realizing that things like Windows Studio, image enhance in Photos, live transcribing and (eventually) Recall, are all AI tools that are independent of Copilot support.
As Microsoft begins to shift its focus to commercializing Copilot across a plethora of platforms on various devices, features that are locked to the Windows ecosystem may soon just be referred to as Windows Intelligence which makes more sense.
Some people have speculated that Microsoft may be going the way of Apple and its Apple Intelligence as far as rebranding Copilot. I don’t believe that to be the case, mostly because Microsoft has sunk too much into Copilot branding over the past year and a half. While Copilot admittedly evolved from Bing Chat, Microsoft made the branding change quickly enough in the products lifecycle that most users have only ever known Copilot.
Secondly, as cringe as some people find Apples tongue-and-cheek rebranding of the AI acronym, it’s a workable Double entendre for them that Windows or even Microsoft Intelligence doesn’t. Apple has historically been associated as hardware company and its the brand Apple happens to span several hardware product categories such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, etc.
Applying the term Apple Intelligence to these hardware products in the form of additional software is a nebulous endeavor that doesn’t fundamentally change the hardware.
However, for a software-first company like Microsoft, applying Windows Intelligence to anything outside of Windows makes little sense. Stretching the branding to Microsoft Intelligence may have a bit more of a runway than Windows, but not by much as evident as the few public references of the company’s Microsoft Graph which already served as the amorphous netting of all Microsoft data and intelligence on the Microsoft 365 platform.
In the end, if Microsoft doesn’t introduce a new wave of Windows Intelligence branded features, perhaps led by the eventual release of Recall, the company would be wise to simply the divergence from Copilot as simply, on device activities versus across the cloud.
