I’m a bit gutted I won’t get Microsoft’s incoming fix for search as it’s for Copilot+ laptops only
Windows 11 looks like it’ll get an AI-supercharged search for Copilot+ PCs
This will allow natural language queries and leverage the on-board NPU to process them
The feature is progressing through testing nicely, and so might be released soon enough
Windows 11 looks like it’ll get its basic search functionality seriously bolstered, with a natural language searching feature progressing nicely through testing – but it’s only for those with Copilot+ PCs.
These ‘local semantic search’ powers have arrived in the latest preview release in the Beta channel (build 26120.3585, as noticed by Neowin), for Copilot+ laptops with AMD or Intel processors. Furthermore, they’ve also turned up in Release Preview for Snapdragon (Arm-powered) Copilot+ PCs.
The move means you can use natural language for a search query in Windows, such as “find photos of me with my dog” or “find that document which is my holiday packing checklist,” rather than having to remember any exact file names.
This doesn’t just work in terms of searching your files and folders (meaning File Explorer), but also with searches in the Settings app – so you can perform queries such as “show me the Bluetooth devices connected to my PC” to pick out another example.
All of this leverages the power of the NPU of the Copilot+ PC. All the processing is done locally, with no data sent to the cloud, which obviously means that you don’t have to be connected to the internet.
Also worked into this particular piece of functionality is the ability to use this AI-enhanced search to find photos in the cloud, should you wish.
