Artificial intelligence assistant Windows 11 Copilot started advertising

Unsurprisingly, Microsoft has started placing ads in Windows Copilot in Windows 11. While ads may appear for certain search queries, such as “Compare Amazon Prime to Netflix,” they don’t always show up. Windows Copilot is the new virtual assistant based on Bing AI and was launched to replace Cortana.

Copilot came with ads

Since Windows Copilot works within Microsoft Edge’s WebView using Bing Chat, the ads aren’t actually a big surprise. While Google has long leveraged ads on its platforms, Microsoft appears to be taking a similar approach. However, although users can accept ads in Bing, they are not satisfied with the ads coming to Windows Copilot, a feature built into the Windows 11 operating system.

The current preview of Windows Copilot is bulky and not very capable as it stands, but it’s a first step and Microsoft is working on deeper integration. For example, you’ll soon be able to open a Word document filled with paragraphs and thousands of words and ask Copilot to summarize it. On the other hand, Copilot is a platform that brings together all of Microsoft’s artificial intelligence efforts. This allows Copilot to understand the context, including the app open on your screen and much more. However, it’s not yet ready to open apps using your voice or chat.

Fortunately, Copilot takes up very little space on the device and is optional. If you don’t like Windows Copilot, you can turn it off using the Group Policy editor.

Is it possible to turn off ads in Windows Copilot?

There is currently no option to disable ads in Windows Copilot. Although this situation does not please the users, it is understandable that Microsoft does this. In an age where Google’s search engine is monopolized, it’s natural that Microsoft would want to generate some sort of revenue through this feature—especially considering that Bing and Copilot are available for free.

However, while integrating ads is an obvious monetization strategy, there is a balance to be had. Ultimately, perhaps ads within Copilot will need to become optional when users have already paid for Windows.