Microsoft pulls Copilot entry points from Photos, Notepad and Windows Widgets

Microsoft has started to scale back its aggressive Copilot integration in Windows. The company is removing buttons and entry points for the AI assistant from built-in apps, including Photos, Widgets, Notepad and several others. The move looks like a quiet admission of error.

In 2023–2024, Microsoft systematically built Copilot into everything it could reach: the taskbar, the Edge browser, Paint, Word, Outlook and Teams. User reaction turned out cooler than expected. The Copilot key on new keyboards proved unnecessary, widgets irritated people, and the built-in image generation in Photos was rarely used.

This is not the first time Microsoft has rolled something back. In 2024 the company removed the Copilot sidebar from the main Windows 11 interface and turned it into a separate app. Now it is continuing the cleanup: AI entry points are being removed from Photos, Widgets, Notepad and a number of other apps. The specific list has not been detailed, but the direction is clear. Copilot is ceasing to be an intrusive neighbor and returning to the role of an on-demand tool.

For scale: Copilot is a repackaging of several Microsoft technologies. It is built on OpenAI's GPT-4o, and Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in its partnership with OpenAI. The product launched in 2023 amid loud promises, and "AI everywhere" became the company's mantra for several quarters running. Microsoft's CEO personally called Copilot "the most significant change in Windows in a decade."

Reality turned out more restrained. Most users never learned to use Copilot regularly for everyday tasks. Features embedded in a specific workflow, such as "Rewrite" in Word or "Summarize" in Teams, take hold. But standalone buttons in Photo Viewer or Notepad look like ad banners inside the operating system.

Regulatory pressure continues in parallel. In Europe, Microsoft faces questions about the privacy of Recall, the Windows "photographic memory" feature that takes screenshots of the screen every few seconds. The feature was delayed several times, renamed and eventually made optional. Copilot+ PC as a hardware platform has not delivered the revolution the advertising promised, either.

Removing entry points is not a rejection of the AI strategy. Microsoft still bets on monetization through Copilot Pro ($20 a month) and Copilot for Microsoft 365 ($30 per user per month for enterprise customers). But the company, it seems, has decided that pushing AI through the interface is counterproductive. Better to remove the friction and wait for users to come to the product on their own.

It is a lesson that every platform company learns the hard way: Google, Apple and now Microsoft. Less Copilot in the interface, more Copilot where it actually works.