Microsoft is moving forward with its plans to turn Windows 11 into a full-fledged “AI” operating system amidst Copilot backlash.
The first big move in that direction is an experimental feature called “Agent Workspace,” which gives AI agents access to the most-used folders in your directory, such as Desktop, Music, Pictures, and Videos. It will also allow AI agents to have their own runtime, desktop, user account, and ability to always run in the background if you turn on the feature.
New agentic features in Windows 11
As soon as I installed Windows 11 Build 26220.7262, Windows Latest noticed a new toggle “Experimental agentic features” inside the “AI Components” page in the Settings app > System.
This turns on “Agent Workspace,” but it doesn’t work right now, and if you’re wondering, it’s only available to Windows Insiders in the Dev or Beta Channel.
What are AI Agents and how do they work?
Before I explain what an Agent Workplace is, you need to understand AI Agents. If you’ve ever used ChatGPT, you might have come across ‘Agents.’ AI Agents have their own interface, and they navigate just like a human.
For example, if you ask ChatGPT’s Agent to book a travel, it’ll open Chromium on Linux in an Azure container, search the query, visit different websites, navigate each page and book a flight ticket using your saved credentials. An AI Agent tries to mimic a human, and it can perform tasks on your behalf while you sit back and relax.
That’s the core idea Silicon Valley is trying to sell.
Up until now, these Agents have been limited to cloud containers with Chromium and Linux terminal access, but as Microsoft wants Windows 11 to become an “AI-native” OS, it’s adding Agent Workspace.
Agent workspace is a separate, contained Windows session made just for AI agents, where they get their own account, desktop, and permissions so they can click, type, open apps, and work on your files in the background while you keep using your normal desktop.
Instead of letting an agent act directly as you, Windows spins up this extra workspace, gives it limited access (like specific folders such as Documents or Desktop), and keeps its actions isolated and auditable.
Each agent can have its own workspace and access rules, so what one agent can see or do doesn’t automatically apply to others, and you stay in control of what they’re allowed to touch.
I find the idea of Agent Workspace a bit similar to Windows Sandbox, but it’s not designed with security or privacy in mind, and it could be one of the ways to have fun with AI on Windows 11.
When you toggle on the feature, Windows warns that it could hurt performance and affect your security or privacy controls, but it’ll give you access to new “agentic” experiences in the OS.
Windows 11 lets AI agents into your Documents and Desktop folders
When you turn on the feature, you’re giving agents access to apps and even local folders, such as Desktop, Music, Pictures, and Videos.
Agent Workspace requires access to apps or private folders to perform actions on your behalf. Microsoft insists that it’s taking care of security implications by giving Agent Workspace its own authorisation (a separate account, similar to your user account), runtime isolation. Each agent will have its own defined set of dos and don’ts.
The idea is to give Agents their own backyard on your PC, and let them run in the background all the time. You’ll be able to monitor the logs and keep an eye on agent activity.
While each agent gets its own account, independent of your personal account, an agent would still need access to your personal folders, such as Documents and Desktop. You’ll be asked to grant permissions to the following:
- apps in Windows
- personal folders, mostly downloads, documents, and desktop, etc.
AI Agents may have performance issues
In our tests, Windows Latest observed that the experimental toggle warns of potential performance issues, and it makes sense.
AI agents are going to run in the background all the time and use RAM or CPU, depending agent’s activity. However, Microsoft’s early benchmarks suggest they won’t really drain PCs of their power. Microsoft says AI Agents will use a limited amount of RAM and CPU, but it won’t tell us how limited the ‘limit’ is.
By default, these agents are lightweight, but the catch is that some Agents could be resource-intensive.
Microsoft insists it deeply cares about power users
Ironically, this new agentic experience has been announced after Microsoft’s Windows boss promised to improve Windows for everyone, including developers, whom it deeply cares about.
While the Experimental Agents Feature is optional, it makes it quite obvious Microsoft will not stop investing in AI for Windows 11, and Agentic OS is the future, whether you like it or not.
