- There's a new update for the Edge browser on desktop and mobile
- Microsoft has retired Copilot Mode, which came to the browser last year
- It's been replaced by a raft of separate AI features, including one that can (with your permission) scan across all your open tabs
Microsoft is dropping Copilot Mode from Edge, but if you thought that AI was going away from the web browser, think again, as AI features are actually being baked directly into the app instead.
Microsoft announced that as part of the latest update for Edge, Copilot Mode is being retired from the browser, but there are new AI features coming in for the desktop version of the app (and the mobile one, too).
The biggest change here is that Copilot can now scan over all the tabs you have open in Edge and pull information to answer your queries.
The idea is that if you are, for example, planning to book a meal and you're mulling over different choices for restaurants across multiple tabs, you can get Copilot to compare those options without having to leave your current web page.
There's no setup required for this; you can just click the Copilot icon and get it to do the legwork for you in terms of pulling details from across those open tabs.
Microsoft explains: "Copilot in Edge, with your permission, reads across every tab you have open, so you can compare options, surface what matters, and make decisions with less tab-hopping."
Copilot can go further than this, and — with your permission again, Microsoft underlines — the AI can access your browsing history to improve its responses. It can remember and draw from previous queries, too.
As Microsoft notes: "Now, with long-term memory on desktop and mobile, Copilot not only builds on what you've seen but also can reference your past chats to provide more relevant help. You're always in control of what Copilot can access."
Extra AI functionality is also being added in terms of a 'Study and Learn' mode, which can break down a topic on a web page you're viewing to create a guided study session, or you can even have Copilot compile a quiz on the subject to test your knowledge.
Another AI feature is an in-line writing assistant, essentially summoning Copilot to write (or edit) things like social media posts for you in Edge. Copilot can also generate a podcast based on the content of any given web page.
In terms of Edge for mobile, the browser also gets Copilot's ability to work across all your open tabs to concoct better answers to your queries, as well as other functionality pulled from the desktop browser. (That includes 'Journeys,' which organizes your browsing history into topics, letting you pick up where you left off with those threads).
Note that some features are for the US only, for the moment — namely, the writing assistant and Journeys on Edge mobile.
Analysis: Copilot cloak engaged
So, the tack Microsoft is now taking is to effectively cloak Copilot. The AI isn't going away from Edge, but the more in-your-face presence — Copilot Mode, introduced almost a year ago now — is being shelved, with AI functionality instead being woven more subtly into the browser in different ways.
And granted, some of the features outlined above could be pretty useful. The worry for some is on the privacy front, although Microsoft is clear enough that Copilot only gets access to nose around in your tabs if you click the button for the AI.
The company makes clear: "With Copilot in Edge, your data stays yours. Microsoft only collects what's needed to improve your experience — or what you choose to provide via Personalization settings."
If you steer clear of clicking the Copilot icon and don't enable any of these features in Edge's settings, there will be no privacy issues. Or there shouldn't be, anyway, but that hasn't stopped some predictably negative reaction to Microsoft's latest Edge update.
There are certainly a few Redditors who don't trust what Microsoft is up to here, and comments like this aren't uncommon: "Microsoft Edge and privacy don't go in the same sentence."
Microsoft is busy trying to change the bad reputation it has been saddled with since Windows 11 arrived — which very much worsened with the advent of Copilot in the OS — and notably, we now have the big drive to fix everything that's wrong with Windows 11.
However, with skeptical Redditors saying things like "K2 will mean nothing" in reaction to this latest move for Edge — K2 is the codename of the project to streamline Windows 11, debloat the OS, and make it more performant — it looks like Microsoft still has a good deal of trust-building to do.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.