Microsoft now has AI agents that can change Windows 11 settings -- should we be delighted or terrified?

Artificial intelligence is now all but unavoidable, and Microsoft is taking every opportunity to crowbar more AI features into Windows 11. Copilot+ PCs are a big part of the company’s AI vision and now powerful new AI agents have been unveiled.

Described as being part of a “new generation of Windows experiences”, Microsoft has revealed new agents that use on-device AI to interpret natural language input to help a user find and change system settings. What could possibly go wrong?

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Microsoft says that user feedback has made it realize that people want a simpler way to find and change system settings. Having already introduced new UX and UI changes, the company is now taking what it sees as the next logical step -- injecting a dose of AI.

In a blog post, Microsoft says:

We’ve also heard that you would like to have more help to find and directly change settings or troubleshoot your PC. What if you could simply describe the change you want, in your own words, and get a fix instead?

We set out to solve one of the most common frustrations we hear -- finding and changing settings on your PC -- using the power of agents. An agent uses on-device AI to understand your intent and with your permission, automate and execute tasks.

With this update to Settings, you will be able to simply describe what you need help with like, “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small” and the agent will recommend the right steps you can take to address the issue.

This seems helpful, but there is more. Microsoft goes on to add that “with your permission and at your initiation, it can even complete the actions to change your settings on your behalf”.

You can see how this looks in a video shared by Microsoft:

There are certainly benefits to this, but also plenty of potential issues. While it’s good to see that on-device AI is being used to help maintain privacy, there is the risk that a user could accidentally make a change that they cannot work out how to undo. On top of this, it is hard to see how having a new way to interact with, change, and implement settings is not a potential attack vector which is just waiting to be exploited.

But the audience for this feature will be limited. For now, it is something that is rolling out to Windows Insiders, but it is also going to be limited to Copilot+ PCs -- which will keep user numbers low for some time. Microsoft says:

This experience will first become available to Windows Insiders on Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PCs and is coming soon to Windows Insiders on AMD- and Intel-powered devices. Only English language inputs will be supported initially.

Are you ready for AI agents controlling Windows?