For more than a year, Microsoft has been bringing Copilot as the name and style of its AI assistant and other AI services, but it seems that the company may be in the midst of a source-transparent rebranding project. In a reference to the appprivacy.adml file shared on X, it appears that the AI features in Windows 11 will be collected in the "Windows Intelligence" under the umbrella name. While positioning AI at the center of the operating system is certainly no surprise, the name is either an intentional use of Apple's "Apple Intelligence" brand.
Of course, you can't copyright the word "intelligence," but the possible decision to include Apple's branding choices suggests that Microsoft sees it as a way to tweak the idea of an artificially intelligent operating system in the minds of its customers. Microsoft has used Windows Intelligence as a term before, but it's usually used for cybersecurity upgrades. And, to be fair, it's not just a name. Microsoft wants AI (regardless of the name) to be built into all of its offerings, including Windows basics like Notepad and the entirety of the Microsoft 365 Suite. In fact, Windows Intelligence will likely replace Copilot, turning the AI assistant into a Windows Intelligence product rather than a standalone tool.
It's an odd choice for a competitor to capitalize on Apple's brand strength, but it's happened before. In fact, Apple is often targeted due to its own marketing success. Think of all the products that have "i" as the first letter in the name or "pod".
Recent upgrades to Microsoft Copilot show that possible changes to the brand don't mean the AI companion will be marginalized. The shift from a chatbot to a more card-based system, the new Copilot Discover page that adapts to match your interests based on conversations with the AI, and other updates reinforce this fact. Additionally, features such as "Click to Do," which uses the AI to provide interactive commands on the screen related to what you're doing, and the "Recall" tool for finding content, documents, web pages, videos, and more that you've recently viewed on your computer, are a very useful addition. The Recall tool can also be used to find content, documents, web pages, videos, or other places you've recently viewed on your computer. The future of Windows Intelligence and its users looks very bright indeed.