Copilot is getting permission to open your files and act on your behalf across Windows.
At today's Windows and Surface event, Microsoft unveiled an upgraded Copilot that can read local files on your PC and carry out actions across the operating system, not just chat about them. Microsoft calls the approach Hybrid Intelligence, splitting tasks between on-device and cloud AI models depending on what gets the job done. Copilot EVP Jacob Andreou demoed the concept live with a tax-filing scenario: he told the Autopilot agent he had received an email from his accountant, then asked Autopilot to pull together the documents she needed. The on-stage demo did not show every step of how Autopilot carried out that request.
That is a meaningfully bigger ask than summarizing a webpage or drafting an email - it means handing an AI agent standing access to the file system on your own machine. The pitch is convenience: no more hunting through folders yourself. The tradeoff is a widening gap between what Copilot can see and what you actively told it to look at.
Microsoft did not address data handling or opt-out controls during the demo, a notable silence for a company still living down Recall's rocky, screenshot-everything launch.