Shock! Microsoft is bringing Copilot to the Windows 11 Start menu
If you can rely on Microsoft for anything, it is that the company will use Windows to push its own products and services – just look at Copilot.
You will have noticed that Microsoft is busy squeezing Copilot into everything it possibly can. The latest victim of this treatment is the Start menu in Windows 11. This should come as no surprise – Microsoft is not only hellbent on shoving Copilot down people’s throats, it is turning to its tried and tested technique of using the Start menu to do so.
The Start menu has been used for many unpopular experiments within Windows 11, often involving Microsoft promoting its own creations in this way. Thus far, somewhat miraculously, the Start menu has been left a Copilot-free zone – but this is about to change.
Microsoft has yet to announce its plans in this area; perhaps the company feels that there is no need to announce the inevitable. But evidence of the company’s plans has been spotted by eagle-eyed individuals, including the ever-reliable PhantomOfEarth.
Posting on Twitter, they shared images of Microsoft using the Start menu to encourage users to enter Copilot prompts.
Adopting something of a resigned tone, PhantomOfEarth writes:
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft's quest to add Copilot buttons to everything in Windows 11 has reached the Start menu.
MS is experimenting with a new Start menu recommendation for Copilot/M365 Copilot that suggests a few different prompts you can use with it.
Spotted in the latest builds of Windows 11 released to Insider, the suggested prompts cover a number of scenarios including researching a topic and writing a draft of a document:
Microsoft is yet to say anything about plans to bring Copilot prompts to the Start menu, but their appearance in the Insider builds of Windows 11 – coupled with the company’s track record – serves as pretty damning evidence.
Copilot with everything
The relentless pushing of its AI assistant is not winning Microsoft any news fans, but the company does not appear to be bothered by this in the slightest. With its eye on the goal of – it hopes – having just about everyone using Copilot, Microsoft seems unfazed by the idea of alienating or annoying users along the way.
With this latest Copilot push having been spotted only in Insider Builds of Windows 11, it is not possible to say with absolute certainty that this new use of the Start menu for self-promotion or advertising will come to fruition, even if it seems extraordinarily likely.
There is money at stake here. While much of Copilot’s functionality can be accessed for free, Microsoft is keen for as many users as possible to be persuaded into paying for a Copilot Pro subscription. The company will be hoping that by placing the AI assistant so prominently within the Windows 11 Start menu, people will be unable to ignore the tool, but also will be tempted into trying it out.
Of course, as this is a test with Windows Insiders, there is a small chance that the idea will not be rolled out more widely – however unlikely this seems. While Microsoft has become far better at listening to feedback in recent years, this is not a concept that sits happily next to the company’s burning desire to get everyone onto the Copilot bandwagon.
What we can hope – whether you love Copilot or not – is that user choice is kept a consideration. If users are given the ability to turn off Copilot within the Start menu, and elsewhere, this would be Microsoft presenting people with a way to opt in or out. Will this happen? Only time will tell, although this level of flexibility does not seem particularly given Microsoft’s track record.
Image credit: Simon Lehmann / Dreamstime.com