Copilot, the new and actively pushing AI assistant in Windows 11, started to show ads. The new behavior reminds of Bing, where some of search terms trigger it to display "shopping tips."
These ads aren't coming from Microsoft and do not promote company's services. Instead, they are third-party offers. As reported by Ghacks, the current preview version of Copilot, when asked about best gaming laptops, shows shopping advertisement right in the sidebar.
Obviously, not all conversations with the new AI assistant will cause it to display ads. Some basic tasks, like asking it to change Windows settings, should remain ad-free. However, Copilot needs an active Internet connection to recognize users' command, so this may change in the future.
Serving third-party ads in a core system component is a bad idea. Besides legitimate offers, such ads can be used for phishing and malware redistribution. All major ad networks have encountered this issue in the past, including Microsoft's one.
It is only a preview version of Copilot, so you can expect it to handle more user queries and, at the same, it will get more topics for showing advertisements.
Windows Copilot is an integral part of Windows 11. It is an AI-powered assistant that combines Bing Chat functionality with Windows-specific tasks. Its icon is pinned to the taskbar, and you can also use the Win+C hotkey to open it. Currently, it runs in a sidebar that opens at the right by default.
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