• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 4, 2024

Apple uses the word "intelligence" in its description of its AI tools. Microsoft could do the same after followers of the company noticed a possible rebranding of its AI and integration into Windows Intelligence from Copilot, the company's AI digital assistant.

References to an umbrella called "Windows Intelligence" have been observed in the latest Windows 11 builds. The insights come from references shared on social-media platform X in the appprivacy.adml file.

Some have also found a new Copilot Discover page that adjusts to match interest based on conversations with the AI. Features like Click to Do, which uses AI to offer interactive commands on relevant screen have been initiated.

Microsoft’s Recall tool for finding information, documents, webpages or other content on a user’s computer would fit under the signature of Windows Intelligence.

The release of Recall -- which has been called a controversial feature for Copilot Plus PCs -- has again been delayed. Microsoft had planned to start testing Recall -- which creates screenshots of nearly everything seen or done on a Copilot Plus PC -- but more time is required to prepare for release.

In August, Microsoft said it would release Recall in October. Microsoft put Recall on hold in July after some insiders revealed it could allow access to stored information by any hacker with access to the machine.

When Microsoft considered rebranding Copilot into AI Agents, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said it showed the company had hit a "panic mode." The AI Agents, announced in October, enabled companies to create AI-powered "autonomous agents" with Copilot.

Benioff at the time had announced his company's own AI agents through Agentforce. In an interview in September with Fortune, Benioff said he believed agents would be the next big thing in AI, adding that the entire company needed to pivot to agents -- even if that meant starting over from scratch. Salesforce was founded about 25 years ago. 

"Artificial intelligence is the most consequential innovation we have seen in a generation, with the transformative power to address society’s most complex problems and create a whole new economy — much like what we saw with the advent of the printing press, electricity, and the internet," according to a post on a16z, the nickname for Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm that invests in technology companies.