Three longtime staples of the Microsoft ecosystem are getting artificial intelligence enhancements, but they won’t necessarily be available to all. With the updates, Notepad users will be able to use generative AI to write text; Paint users can now create AI-generated stickers; and Snipping Tool users can deploy a «perfect screenshot» feature.
The catch, however, is that the Notepad AI update will be available only to Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscribers and Paint’s new AI features will work only on Copilot Plus PCs.
Everyone will be able to use the new Snipping Tool enhancements, however.
The AI additions to Notepad will use Copilot, Microsoft’s «AI-powered assistant» that can search the internet, give answers to all kinds of questions, create documents and more. While in Notepad, you can right-click from anywhere in the document, select Write and then type instructions for the text. After the AI generates the text, you can choose either Keep Text or Discard.
To use the new Write feature in Notepad, you have to be either a Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscriber and then use some of your allotted AI credits.
Paint and Snipping Tool also are leveling up with AI, using Copilot. According to the Windows Insiders blog, in Paint you can create a sticker with a prompt such as «cat wearing sunglasses.» In the Snipping Tool, you can create a «perfect screenshot.» The blog describes a couple of methods to do this, but the end result is AI will deliver the screenshot so that you will not have to crop or resize the image.