Microsoft drops Copilot badge

Microsoft has started stripping the Copilot name from Windows 11 apps, beginning with Notepad, while leaving the underlying artificial intelligence tools in place. (blogs.windows.com) In a March 20 post, Microsoft said it would cut “unnecessary Copilot entry points” in apps including Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad as part of a broader Windows 11 cleanup. (blogs.windows.com) That change is now showing up in preview software: Notepad version 11.2512.28.0 for Windows Insiders replaces the Copilot button with a pen icon and renames the menu “Writing tools.” (pcmag.com) The Write, Rewrite and Summarize features in Notepad still work after the label change, and the settings section tied to those features has been renamed from “AI features” to “Advanced features,” according to multiple reports on the Insider build released April 9. (theverge.com, pureinfotech.com) Microsoft has been adding generative artificial intelligence to basic Windows apps since at least May 2024, when it introduced new AI experiences for Paint and Notepad in the Windows Insider program. (blogs.windows.com) Snipping Tool followed with more AI-adjacent features in 2024 and 2025, including visual search in May 2024 and a text extractor in April 2025 that lets users copy text from part of the screen without first saving a screenshot. (blogs.windows.com, blogs.windows.com) The branding pullback does not mean Microsoft is backing away from artificial intelligence across Windows. In the same March 20 post, the company said it would keep integrating Copilot “where it’s most meaningful” and focus on experiences it considers more useful and less disruptive. (blogs.windows.com) That leaves Microsoft with a narrower task: keep the features, drop some of the labels, and make Windows 11 feel less crowded than it did during the first two years of the Copilot push. (blogs.windows.com, theverge.com)