When was the last time you used a Copilot-based feature? If you're anything like me, you likely booted it up the first time you saw it, played around with it for a bit, and then put it away and forgot about it. However, Microsoft hasn't given up on the AI assistant just yet. In the yearly Ignite event, the Redmond giant revealed more information about what it wants to do with Copilot, Copilot+, and Recall in the future. Who knows? Maybe this will be the moment Microsoft brings Copilot around.

Microsoft really wants people to trust Recall

Alright, let's dive in with the most controversial feature; Recall. This was originally planned to be released alongside the wave of Copilot+ devices a few months ago, but it was delayed twice over because of issues with privacy. Now, Microsoft is taking to the Ignite stage to tell people that Recall is really trustworthy now, promise.

Microsoft is reassuring everyone that Recall will arrive on new PCs disabled, and needs to be manually enabled by the user or an IT policy. This is a big step up from when we last saw Recall, which enabled itself without warning and began taking snapshots of people's desktops without them knowing. Microsoft also notes that Recall will use "additional layers of data encryption" and Windows Hello to help protect people's data.

New tools are on the way for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft also wants to focus on getting Copilot into the hands of employees and help them get their work done faster. This includes new "Copilot Actions" designed to help people cut out the boring work by automating tasks.

Microsoft gives a few examples of how Copilot can assist in the workplace. For PowerPoint, Microsoft states that its AI can automatically translate entire presentations to target languages, which should help multinational companies a lot. Copilot can also generate a to-do list of all the things you need to do at the start of a workday and also create a newsletter to sum up what the company achieved in a specific week. Microsoft claims that Copilot can even find the ideal moment for two people to meet by checking the schedules of both and suggesting a time that works for both.

Microsoft reveals third-party APIs for Copilot

It seems that Microsoft is also opening up Copilot for third-party developers to use. This may actually work out well for the company, as developers can adopt Copilot's technologies into their own apps and potentially convince people that the AI assistant is worth their time and money.

Here's what Microsoft is opening up for developers to use:

Image super resolution: API increases fidelity of the image as well as upscaling the resolution of the image. This API can be used to enhance clarity of blurry images.

Image segmentation: API enables separating foreground and background of an image, as well as removing specific objects or regions within an image. Creativity apps like image editing or video editing can easily bring background removal capabilities in their apps using this API.

Object erase: This API enables erasing unwanted objects from the image and blends the erased area with the rest of the background.

Image description: API provides a text description of an image.

It all sounds exciting on paper, but these features are wholly dependent on companies and individuals adopting them. If Microsoft fails to do that, 2025 won't be the big break the company is looking for. However, at the very least, we can say the company is doing its best to make it happen.