AI in Notepad is not exactly new, as it’s been around for several months at this point, but Microsoft is now putting effort into improving the integration. A new update for Notepad’s Copilot integration will add support for “streaming,” which means you can watch AI text type itself instead of directly seeing the final input.
What is streaming in AI?
When you use a large language model like ChatGPT, you might have noticed that texts start appearing almost immediately. Right now, you don’t see the same experience when you use Copilot in Notepad. Microsoft wants that to change, and help Notepad behave a bit more like ChatGPT (yes, really).
AI text streaming support is rolling out for Notepad, but it’s limited to Copilot+ PCs at the moment. This doesn’t mean you are going to escape the AI upgrade, as Microsoft has quietly confirmed that AI text streaming will eventually come to all regular PCs, including your AMD and Intel PC, even if they don’t support Windows 11 officially, but run on it.
“Streaming support for Rewrite is limited to results generated locally on Copilot+ PCs at this time,” Microsoft noted in a post.
AI in Notepad defeats the whole purpose of a ‘simple text editor.’
While I understand ‘Copilot’ in Notepad is an optional feature (turned on by default, tho), do we really need AI in what was supposed to be a simple text editor?
If I wanted to generate AI content, I could use the Copilot app directly. If not the Copilot consumer client, I’d use the Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is specifically tailored for generating. I can also use Claude and ChatGPT desktop Windows apps or Copilot inside Edge to generate AI.
There are valid use cases for AI, but you don’t need AI inside Notepad to generate content from scratch, rewrite texts, summarise, etc, among others.
AI is enabled in Notepad by default, and you can select any text and use features like Write, Rewrite, Customised re-write, and Summarise. You’re also getting a customised re-write feature that lets you make the text shorter or longer, change the tone (Formal, Casual, Inspirational, Humour, or Persuasive).
You can even change the format, all from the same menu. For example, there’s an option that lets you regenerate the text for ‘marketing’ work. Why would you generate marketing material for social media in Notepad? The whole purpose of Notepad was that it was easy, simple to use, and it worked fast.
How do you turn off Copilot / AI in Notepad?
Notepad is still fast, but it’s starting to feel bloated, at least out of the box. Thankfully, if you hate the idea of Notepad turning into an AI toy, you can turn off the feature from Settings > Copilot.
However, that does not really remove Copilot-related bits from the code of Notepad. It still stays within the app, but is hidden.
AI is sadly here to stay in Notepad, Paint, and other apps. You can always bring back WordPad if you want. Notepad++ always remains a better option.
What do you think about AI in apps like Notepad?
