Do you find Windows settings too clunky to work with? Well, Microsoft has a solution—you can now simply tell your PC what settings to change.

Microsoft’s New AI Agents Can Change Windows Settings

Microsoft has announced several new Windows “experiences” for Copilot+ PCs. The new features include AI agents that help you find and change Windows settings using natural language.

The AI agent will come as an update to the Windows 11 Settings app. Once installed, you’ll be able to say phrases like “how to control my PC by voice” or “my mouse pointer is too small” and get the recommended steps to address the issue. It can also follow through on the steps, but requires permissions, and you need to initiate the process.

Microsoft’s blog post announcing the feature claims finding and changing settings is one of the “most common frustrations” in Windows, and it’s not wrong. While Windows 11 does a good job of simplifying the hundreds of settings the OS has, being able to simply talk to your PC and have it fix itself is going to make life a lot easier.

In its current form, it seems the feature works by converting your speech into a text prompt and running it like you would run any other text prompt. It also uses on-device AI and requires permissions to automate or execute tasks, a lesson Microsoft seemingly learnt from the privacy nightmare its Recall feature was.

This is one of the better uses of AI that I’ve seen implemented in Windows, significantly better than shoving Copilot in users’ faces both in the OS and in Edge. It is, however, limited to Copilot+ PCs at the moment, so there’s no saying when regular Windows PCs—a much larger number than Copilot+ PCs—will get the feature.

Microsoft has confirmed that the feature is “coming soon” to Windows Insiders on AMD and Intel-powered PCs. Until then, Insiders using a Snapdragon-powered Copilot+ PC can try the feature out, as long as they speak English.

More New Features Are on the Way

Photos, Paint, and Snipping Tool are getting multiple new features as well. One of these is an AI photo editor in the Photos app called Photos Relight that allows you to add “dynamic lighting controls” to your pictures. The feature lets you add up to three light sources, set their color, and create a focus point that all lights follow.

The Paint app on Copilot+ PCs is getting an AI sticker generator that creates “custom digital stickers from a simple text prompt.” The sticker can be added to the canvas, copied into documents, or used in chats. You’re also getting object selection in Paint that works a lot like its corresponding Photoshop feature.

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The Snipping Tool will get a feature called Perfect Screenshot that automatically fits the capture area to frame your on-screen content. You also get text and color extractors.

Last but not least, there are several incoming improvements to Windows search and more click-to-do actions like scheduling a meeting or sending a message via Teams, converting tables with Excel, and using Copilot in Word to draft documents.