Microsoft has begun distributing its new Windows 11 AI Assistant to everyone registered on its Windows Insider Dev channel.

Microsoft announced the AI Assistant with Microsoft Edge and Bing Chat at its annual Build conference on May 23; as reported by Windows Central, Windows Copilot was scheduled for release in June but is just now being rolled out to those subscribed to the Windows Insider Dev channel. The feature will be available to all Windows users later this year as part of a major feature update to Windows 11.

Microsoft hopes to make Copilot the center of the Windows experience by placing it "front and center." The Copilot icon will appear right next to the Windows 11 search bar on the desktop, so you won't miss this new feature. It will also appear beside you in the form of a sidebar that Microsoft promises will be "consistent across apps, programs, and windows" while you work.

The new AI assistant can handle copy and paste functions, Snap Assist, Snipping Tool, content rewrites, and more. It can also handle Bing Chat's question-and-answer feature by integrating Bing Chat and a growing list of third-party plug-ins into Windows Copilot.

If you are enrolled in the Windows Insider Program Dev channel, you will need to update Microsoft Edge to version 115 or higher. Of course, you should also make sure you have the latest Dev build installed; if you are not in the Insider Program, you can sign up here.

Anyone who remembers Cortana knows that Windows Copilot is not the company's first AI assistant; Microsoft believed Cortana would be the future of digital assistants, from Windows 10 to Amazon Alexa, It thought it would be integrated into everything from Windows 10 to Amazon Alexa. That didn't end up happening, but it is possible that Windows Copilot will be the assistant that Windows users actually want to use.

Microsoft has the advantage of knowing where Cortana failed. In that sense, the company has ideas of what not to do with Windows Copilot. For example, Cortana did not make working on a PC more efficient.

Time will tell if Copilot will be a hit among Windows users or if it will join its sister Cortana in the dustbin of history.