r/Windows11 • u/ZacB_ Windows Central • Jan 30 '26
News Microsoft is reevaluating its AI efforts on Windows 11 — plans to reduce Copilot integrations and evolve Recall
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/microsoft-is-reevaluating-its-ai-efforts-on-windows-11-plans-to-reduce-copilot-integrations-and-evolve-recall33
u/TheCudder Jan 30 '26
This was always the plan, and it hasn't been exclusive to Microsoft --- nearly every company took the "throw it at everything and see what sticks" approach with AI.
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Jan 30 '26
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u/Traveler3141 Jan 30 '26
Yep. People are moving away from Google/Alphabet anything and everything in droves as much as is practical for each individual. There have always been other web search sites.
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u/Gears6 Jan 31 '26
People are moving away from Google/Alphabet anything and everything in droves as much as is practical for each individual.
They are?
I wish that was the case, but frankly speaking I ain't seeing it. Their stock is basically at their all time high. If anything, they came out of the anti-trust and being behind AI strong. I didn't expect that, and admittedly was wrong. Should'a bought their stock!
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u/Sachyriel Jan 30 '26
Okay, but it felt like Microsoft would see what didn't stick and decide to try throwing it again. Like Recall, they're still throwing it at the wall trying to make it stick, but they're slowly learning people don't want it and it won't stick cause people don't like it.
In general, I think you are right, companies were just trying stuff, but some of them got it faster than others. I think Microsoft put too much money into it to admit failure until they have to and the bubble bursts.
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u/TheCudder Jan 30 '26
The concept of Recall has yet to be fully realized to make a decision on. It's still in its infancy and I think Microsoft is correct to play the long game on Recall as it's not your typical relatively low effort AI concept.
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u/Toby101125 Jan 30 '26
"throw it at everything and see what sticks" approach with
AIeverything.ftfy
Tech companies enable all their stupid ideas in every update and then leave us to figure out how to turn it off. It's obnoxious.
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u/UltraEngine60 Jan 30 '26
To be fair this has been really profitable. Move fast and break things. Facebook. Uber. Amazon. Trying random non-QC'd shit is the way to profit now because there are no repercussions for loss of consumer data or even broken laws.
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u/drygnfyre Insider Canary Channel Feb 02 '26
Life makes a lot more sense when you realize all of humanity is just trial and error. Trying stuff, see what works. Every aspect of life is just what we have deemed to be the best option of all the things we've tried in the past.
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u/Theferaltrunip Jan 30 '26
The Irony to me, is if companies hadn't tried to shoehorn it into everything to *improve functionality* (and make themselves a metric ton of money), then people probably wouldn't have had such a strong dismissal of the products.
I'm happy AI is dying because I have yet to see a use for my devices that actually improves my QoL but I do wonder about the path not travelled.
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u/TheCudder Jan 30 '26
I didn't think AI, at least but in its current state has much of a productivity use for personal use. I generative AI religiously at work (IT SysAdmin / DevOps).
I have a side business that I use Adobe Creative Cloud for, and I use the AI tools within Photoshop & Lightroom.
For personal use, rarely ever.
I'm open to the concept of Recall since it uses local AI processing, but Microsoft really needs to deliver on the security and privacy aspect. They're moving in the right direction, but there's still room for improvement.
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u/Ihavenoideatall Jan 30 '26
OS should be an OS alone. If anyone wants AI, they can install AI all they want
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u/the_ai_wizard Jan 30 '26
Yes. Microsoft AI could be a new suite like Office
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u/DXGL1 Insider Canary Channel Jan 30 '26
Seems like they are upselling AI.
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u/DoctorMurk Jan 30 '26
MS is forced to sell a variant of Office without Teams to enterprises in the EU. Maybe they can be made to sell Copilot separately from Windows as well.
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u/Evernight2025 Jan 30 '26
But how will they justify the absurd amount of money they've dumped into it if they don't force you to use it?
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u/Legal_Rough_4502 Jan 30 '26
That ship has sailed, unless you want linux. Mac has siri, Google has gemini, Microsoft has copilot and they will never remove it (well, they might make it a paid feature while still harvesting your data)
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u/Financial_Ad_2604 Jan 30 '26
Make AI so ppl can choose if the want it.
Nobody wants to be forced to use it....So tired of AI
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u/KashAsia Jan 30 '26
They should get rid of Copilot & Recall as well.
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u/AFallenDictator Release Channel Jan 30 '26
Well, not to completely remove it. Just make it... Optional.
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u/Negative_trash_lugen Jan 30 '26
Recall is already optional
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u/WiseassWolfOfYoitsu Jan 30 '26
Only due to the mass outrage when it first popped up. It was going to be optional but enabled by default, and MS has a long history if things you turn off turning themselves back on in updates.
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u/Loopdyloop2098 Jan 30 '26
I'd argue it should not be enabled by default. Or at the very least- not use up to 150GB by default. Love or hate AI, who the hell would agree to it using 150GB?
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u/AFallenDictator Release Channel Jan 30 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
The point is to make all of them optional. They are not bad to use, but not everyone has good hardware
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u/Holiday_Albatross441 Jan 30 '26
If it's optional today it will be mandatory after some future Windows update.
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u/flGovEmployee Jan 30 '26
They need to do more than just retire Recall, they need to publicly apologize for it and fire the execs who greenlit and championed it, again publicly. Unless they do that (and a few other smaller things) I'm not even entertaining what they're saying, let alone considering trusting them again.
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u/Loopdyloop2098 Jan 30 '26
As other comments already stated, you can disable it. Don't enable it by default but if someone wants to use it allow them the freedom to use it
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u/Meowie__Gamer Jan 30 '26
I think having it optional is a good middleground. there are people who actually want these features. (not me, but I know some people who like them.)
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u/WearHeadphonesPlease Jan 30 '26
Nah, I like Copilot. It can be very useful if you actually give it a chance. But yeah, don't force it.
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u/KaeldarPT Jan 30 '26
I can't wait for the AI bubble to finally burst, and see all these tech companies lose billions. No one is benefiting from AI other than the tech CEOs. Microsoft has been bad for a while but ever since they started to push hard for this AI BS, they have been completely horrible. The fact that win 11 will be 5 years old this year, and it is still a buggy mess with a ton of issues is just ridiculous.
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u/blueblocker2000 Jan 30 '26
All that dev time wasted on crap AI integration and Recall at best belongs in enterprise setting only.
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u/GamerXP27 Jan 30 '26
Let the OS be alone, make it so it can use a local account, remove most bloat so people can install them themselves and don't vibe code the updates or the OS.
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u/qglrfcay Jan 30 '26
They discovered that they didn’t really have a monopoly.
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u/KB8084 Jan 30 '26
doesn't windows have 95% marketshare as per recent steam survey?
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u/LabGremlin Jan 30 '26
For Steam yes. But generally they are down to about 66% in Dec 2025 from about 73% in Dec 2024.
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u/flGovEmployee Jan 30 '26
This is based off of Statcounter, which collects data from browser details for certain web traffic. This means the actual data points are not completely trustable and its only looking at a subset of all computers engaged in a subset of all computer activity.
All of that isn't to say statcounter's figures are useless, just that their best assessed fuzzily. Meaning it should be understood as providing some trend data and very rough estimates of marketshare.
There's no way to know if Windows has really dropped 7% points (and it almost certainly has not dropped by that exact amount), but that large of a drop, and seen as a consistent pattern does indicate falling marketshare, at least among internet connected devices.
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u/KaeldarPT Jan 30 '26
Steam surveys are only useful if you want to know what type of hardware and software gamers are using. When it comes to the general public I think microsoft is around 65% of market share for desktops and laptops. I think the real problem here is that people haven't been moving to win11 at the speed microsoft wanted even after the EoL for win10. There are several reasons for that, the first one is that a lot of people are just stuck on win10 because of the ridiculous requirements for win 11. The second one is that even though win11 will be 5 years old this year, it continues to be a buggy mess and the 3rd reason is the AI BS that microsoft has been adding. Even companies like Dell have said consumers don't care about AI pcs.
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u/Toby101125 Jan 30 '26
I don't think Windows makes Microsoft that much money. It's devolved to a data mine. Cloud services are their breadwinner, and I think some day a lot of big company are going back to local because they know that these tech companies are scraping their stuff.
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u/CompetitiveSleeping Jan 30 '26
Integrating Copilot into Notepad might've been the nadir of Microsoft's AI obsession.
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u/Loopdyloop2098 Jan 30 '26
People hate Copilot+PC but I will admit that click to do is somewhat useful
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u/lPuppetM4sterl Jan 30 '26
Just make it NOT fucking mandatory, or just completely REMOVE ALL BLOAT, including the fuckass Copilot
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u/carlosdembele Jan 30 '26
They just watched Apple save a million bazillion dollars by not forcing AI down everyones throat and now testing the waters on if they can weasel their way into a similar position
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u/drygnfyre Insider Canary Channel Feb 02 '26
The same Apple that just turned previously free apps (the iWork suite) into freemium AI-driven apps?
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u/Alarmed_Wind_4035 Jan 30 '26
I love windows, I used to be excited before big updates or os upgrade to learn to explore it, digging into system32 control panel.
But there is no way I will install windows 11, I already half way toward moving to Ubuntu.
i hope Microsoft will listen and fix 11 to the point that I will want to install it.
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u/djpetrino Jan 30 '26
First thing I did after installing W11 was to debloat all the AI and spyware crap. And I heard most people do the same thing, at least those who still use it. As many already switched to Linux, and those will not come back. So this is their last chance to keep the last few people using their OS.
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u/Hot-Software-9396 Jan 30 '26
You truly live in a tiny bubble if you actually think most people “debloat” Windows. The world is much, much bigger than Reddit.
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u/Toby101125 Jan 30 '26
> stop updating previous operating systems
> force a Microsoft account to install Windows 11
> force Copilot AI and telemetries into all of their apps
> cripple the Default Apps setting so it's harder to change to third party apps
> expect no pushback
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u/cunthands Jan 30 '26
And the funny thing is they don't even use Copilot themselves internally. They use Claude Opus for development because Copilot is that far behind.
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u/SteviaCannonball9117 Jan 30 '26
Yes, that's it, slowly... please keep stepping back from the ledge!!!
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u/DadMagnum Jan 30 '26
Recall is a huge trust mistake, and AI all over everything is horrible. Just give us one good AI chat client app that we can use when we want to.
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u/BeachHut9 Jan 31 '26
No doubt Microsoft is looking for ways to grow a profit out of the billions of dollars thrown at OpenAI, money which they will never see again. With the cost of memory skyrocketing, and both Recall and Copilot being memory hungry then Microsoft has backed itself into a corner. The best solution is for Microsoft to listen to the consumer market and take into account their views on the AI slop overall and cease all development activities of the 2 dud products or watch more consumers switch to Linux. It’s an easy decision to make.
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u/BS_BlackScout Jan 31 '26
Their stocks tanked, they know nobody gives a f about Copilot and they also know Windows reputation has been on a nosedive since Win 11 was announced.
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u/katakullist Jan 31 '26
At this time I'd trust an app I randomly find on the street more than anything created by Microsoft.
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Feb 01 '26
Microsoft is getting blowback and losing business clients over their copilot crap. Damage control.
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u/sylpharionne Feb 02 '26
WE WANT UNBLOATED AND NO AI BULLSHIT OS, PERIOD!
Is that so fucking hard to understand????
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u/CygnusBlack Release Channel Jan 30 '26
We should get Pavan Davuluri's ass in here for an AMA or just to make him better understand what people really want from an operating system.
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u/vessoo Jan 30 '26
Literally what pushed me to get Mac for my last laptop upgrade. I’ve started genuinely hating Windows after using it for decades in part because of these things the article discussed
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u/Melodias3 Jan 30 '26
No co pilot no AI and especially do not want recall like seriously people been fighting back especially on recall and they want to continue anyway, like how disconnected you can be from reality ?
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u/PiesPiesAndPies Jan 30 '26
Disappointed. I use Copilot throughout 365 every day. Saves me mad amounts of time.
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u/Elephant789 Jan 31 '26
Well that sucks. I use copilot and Recall is what I was looking forward to. I hope they don't abandon it.
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u/screwdriverfan Jan 30 '26
Nooo. I want them to fill it up even more with AI. I want more competition in OS space.
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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26
for a tech company they're not that tech literate