Microsoft is set to release Windows 11 version 24H2 — the update that was previously expected to be called Windows 12 — later this year, and unsurprisingly, AI is a major focus. Not only has Copilot been Microsoft's focus for the better part of a year, but we also know a good bit about the upcoming update, including a feature called "AI Explorer", which has been reported on multiple times.

While we have yet to see this feature in action, the descriptions we've heard of this AI Explorer suggest this will be the AI implementation I've been waiting for. If the reports holds up, I believe this feature could change my mind about AI and how it could shape how we all use our devices.

AI needs to be more than chatbots

And image generation doesn't count, either

My main concern with the bulk of the AI talk so far is that it's only been used for purposes where it doesn't make a ton of sense. Sure, you can ask Copilot for all kinds of information, and it can summarize that information a bit better than using Google, but is it really that much faster? When you consider how long it takes to generate a reply and the fact that you probably need to double-check that information anyway, I don't find it that useful. What's more, using Copilot in Windows for this is no different from using it on the web.

Other AI uses that get the most attention have to do with creating images and videos from prompts, which is even less interesting. Useful, maybe, but I see no benefit in taking the human factor out of creating art. That's outside the scope of this article, but all of that is to say that simply implementing these kinds of tools in Windows hasn't added any value in my opinion.

Copilot has been getting better

But it's still too limited

Since as early as last summer, I've been saying that if Microsoft wants Copilot to be useful in Windows, it needs to be able to control more of the system and provide more contextual help. It seems that the company believes the same thing, and in a recent update, it took some steps to address it. In addition to the original 13 system-related commands supported, the company added 16 more with the Moment 5 update, on top of adding support for Power Automate, making it possible to automate almost any tasks using Copilot and automations.

With that being said, these are still just the tip of the iceberg. 29 commands in total is still minuscule when you consider every setting you might want to change on your laptop, and while Power Automate support is an excellent addition, not everyone wants to set up automations and have to wait for them to play out. Copilot needs to do more in the context of what users want.

Windows Insiders also recently got to see a feature where Copilot can suggest taking actions on certain text upon copying it to the clipboard, which technically falls under the contextual help I think is so important. Again, though, this is fairly limited for now, though I see potential in it.

The Windows Timeline was actually cool

At least in concept

Let's take a step back for a moment. This idea of AI Explorer creating a timeline of everything you do on your PC probably sounds familiar, and it should. Windows 10 has a feature called Timeline which was removed in Windows 11, on top of being somewhat crippled in Windows 10 since it can no longer sync cloud data.

However, I still believe the concept itself makes sense. It's not uncommon for me to want to jump back to something I was doing before. The problems with the Windows Timeline start with the fact that being a timeline meant it could get very hard to go back to something you did a week or month prior. Just scrolling took a while.

But the real problem is that support for the Windows timeline had to be built into each app, and if you followed the history of app support on Windows, you know that adoption for any optional feature that requires a modern framework is usually abysmal. If you weren't using Edge, almost anything you did on the internet wasn't saved. This held the feature back severely.

How the AI Explorer could fix everything

If it's done right

This is where the purported AI Explorer could change the game, assuming it lives up to what we've heard. We don't know everything this feature will entail, but one thing we've consistently heard is that it will create a searchable timeline of everything you do. That means that not only is everything recorded, but you don't have to scroll through a long timeline to find what you want. If you were working on a document about energy, you can ask Windows to show you "things about energy from last week", and it will find all the instances of the word energy in things you looked at in that period. That's already huge, as it makes it so much easier to find what you want without having to remember when you did it or even what app you were using.

But it gets even better. The reports also indicate that this timeline feature will work with all apps, and if true, this is an absolute game changer. The limited app compatibility was the big problem with the previous implementation of the Windows timeline, and to some extent, it's a problem with Copilot in general. Currently, if you want to summarize the contents of a page, for example, it needs to be open in Microsoft Edge. If this timeline works with any app, it's truly meeting users where they are, and it's automatically far more useful for everyone. That' what AI should be about: making what you do easier and preemptively saving what you need, regardless of what it is. It shouldn't require you to ask for something it can understand, or to use a specific app it's compatible with. It should just work for you, and this appears to be exactly that.

Will Microsoft deliver?

Of course, at the end of the day, it's all up to what Microsoft ends up doing, and going off of early reports can be a recipe for disappointment. While I'm hopeful, I wouldn't dare say I'm optimistic, as I feel like Microsoft is more prone to underdelivering than the opposite. Regardless, there's a chance we'll get to see something really cool come to Windows 11, and I'm excited to see how great or disappointing it will be.