The classic Windows Notepad is about to get some AI smarts

The classic Windows Notepad was introduced about four decades ago. For the most part, it has remained barebones and simple. It is a quick and easy way for people to jot down notes. Nothing more, nothing less. But it looks like Microsoft is getting ready to introduce some modern day features to Windows Notepad with the help of AI.

In an upcoming update, Microsoft will be integrating its Copilot AI chatbot to Windows Notepad. According to Microsoft, the integration of Copilot will allow users to get more context about the contents of their files.

“In this update to Notepad, we are adding a new feature that helps you quickly understand content in your text files. With “Explain with Copilot”, you can ask Copilot in Windows to help explain log files, code segments, or any selected content directly from within Notepad.”

It’s an interesting approach, but we’re not sure if this is going to be a welcome one. One of the things I personally love about Notepad is that it’s such a low impact app. If I’m on the phone and I want to jot down case numbers, phone numbers, email addresses, and so on, Notepad is my go-to app.

We get that Microsoft wants to introduce more AI to its apps, but given the simplicity of Notepad, we’re worried that it might end up bogging it down. We’ll have to try it out for ourselves and see if there’s any noticeable impact as a result of Copilot integration. The Windows update isn’t live yet. It is available in the Canary and Dev channels but a public release will come much later.