Who would have thought it. Windows’ humble Notepad, that app we’ve been using since the days of Windows 95 to write quick, unformatted notes, has just received an impressive makeover. Microsoft has decided it was time to give it superpowers, and it did so by integrating artificial intelligence directly into the app.
The update brings three main AI-powered features: Write, Rewrite, and Summarise. Basically, Notepad can now help you write text from scratch, rewrite what you’ve already written to improve it, or summarize long texts. And the best part is that it works with real-time streaming, so you watch the text being generated word by word, as if you were chatting with ChatGPT.
But that’s not all. Microsoft has also improved support for Markdown, that lightweight markup language used by many developers and technical writers. Now you can use strikethrough, nested lists, and other advanced features without having to install specialized editors. For those of us who work with technical documentation, this is a godsend.
And as if that weren’t enough, Paint also gets its share of AI. The new “Colouring Book” feature lets you generate coloring pages from text descriptions. You type something like “an astronaut cat in a coffee cup” and the system generates a line drawing ready to color. It sounds like a game, but it has practical applications for educators, parents, and designers who need to prototype ideas quickly.
Mind you, there’s fine print: these features are only available on so-called Copilot+ PCs, which are relatively new machines with specific AI hardware. In addition, you need to sign in with a Microsoft account. For some, this will be an inconvenience, but for the majority who already use Windows with a linked account, it will be transparent. For now it’s in a testing phase for users on the Windows Insider program, but it’s expected to reach everyone in the coming months.
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