Microsoft's AI hype train is already underway, and the next stop is Windows 11's Photos and Paint apps getting another helping of AI integration.
Microsoft is currently holding its Build 2024 conference, where the company has already introduced its line of new AI-focused Copilot+ PCs, including a feature called 'Recall' that records activity on the PC and enables searches. Microsoft has also brought in an improved Cocreator feature for the Paint app.
Cocreator will run locally on Copilot+ PCs and use the more powerful NPUs (Neural Processing Units) on these devices to generate images based on text prompts you provide. The current Paint app has an AI-powered Image Creator feature, but it's not the same as Cocreator.
Cocreator is different because it will work locally on your computer and you won't need to connect to the Internet to take advantage of the computing power to generate images. Additionally, it will produce images faster than Image Creator, although the latter will not be removed: the two options will run side by side.
Microsoft demonstrated the new feature on a Surface Pro, showing the presenter delivering a message and drawing a basic outline of how he wanted the image to look. Cocreator then used this information to generate the image based on the rough shapes that were drawn.
Cocreator is also shown to have a “Style” drop-down menu, presumably to choose the style you want the image to be generated in, and a “Creativity” slider.
Increasing the Creativity slider produces a higher quality image filled with a higher level of detail, with the AI flexing its skills more, while towards the lower end of the scale the generated image adheres more closely to the sketch provided by the user.
The ability to experiment with styles in the Photos app.
The Photos app in Windows 11 is also getting an AI boost on Copilot+ PCs in the form of a feature called 'Restyle Image'. This allows you to transform your own photos with preset art styles, for example taking a photo of your pet and turning it into an anime style image.
There's a text box where you can enter prompts to give the feature your own specific instructions for what kind of style you'd like it to transform your photo into, and a 'Creativity' slider that apparently works similarly to Cocreator's.
One interesting thing that Windows Latest spotted is that there doesn't seem to be a set amount of credits that limits the number of times you can use any of the features. Both Cocreator and the 'Restyle Image' capabilities can be run as many times as you like locally on your PC using small language models.
Both features will also require the PC to have a processor with a suitable NPU, so they won't be available on all Windows PCs, including existing devices running Windows 11. This will only be for laptops using the new Snapdragon or others. Copilot+ PC with future AMD or Intel silicon.
For those interested in AI assistance, this is good news, as are the other AI tools that Microsoft is introducing in Windows 11. It will make things that were unimaginable to most people not long ago. Easily accessible with a few clicks without even going. online.
If you're not a fan of AI-powered apps, then I imagine this news will simply be a continuation of the problems you may have with AI coming everywhere these days.
Either way, it doesn't look like Microsoft will be remotely discouraged from going down this path, and will continue to try to become the industry standard for AI-focused consumer products.
