I don’t want to scare people who already have a pc running Windows 11 but…things are getting grim with the latest news from Microsoft. The quote below is from Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi:

‘“We think we’re on the cusp of the next evolution, where AI happens not just in that chatbot and gets naturally integrated into the hundreds of millions of experiences that people use every day,” Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft, told The Verge in a briefing. “The vision that we have is: let’s rewrite the entire operating system around AI, and build essentially what becomes truly the AI PC.”

I strongly recommend reading the entire story about Microsoft’s plan in this Futurism article [no paywall]. For everyone else, here’s my quick summary:

With support for Windows 10 ended, users will either have to upgrade to Win11 [after buying a new, compatible pc] or keep using Win10 and risk security issues [more on that at the end],Current Windows 11 users will be automatically upgraded to a system in which Copilot [the Windows AI] will be at the heart of the whole operating system. This will include:Voice activation where you ‘talk’ to Copilot instead of manually selecting what you want to do,Copilot Vision where the AI ‘…will be able to see everything that happens on your screen so it can give context-based recommendations and tips.’Copilot Actions ‘…which allow the AI assistant to perform tasks on your local machine, like editing folders or looking stuff up.’

I’m sure that there will be a lot of people out there who think these innovations aren’t such a bad thing. After all won’t it be more convenient to use voice commands instead of having to peck away at a keyboard?

And so what if the AI sees everything on your screen… like the password for your online banking or that ‘interesting’ website that shows artistic nudes doing all sorts of gymnastics or that comment you left about how ugly that person is and how they should just kill themselves because no one wants to look at them or…

As for the AI independently changing things on your pc, what’s so bad about that? You could never find stuff anyway so who cares?

The answer to ‘who cares’ is EVERY ONE! Giving up both your security and your privacy to an AI that belongs to Microsoft and lives in the ‘Cloud’ means that all of your most intimate data will live there too. It won’t be safe on your pc, it will be available to whatever bad actor first discovers how to hack Copilot. Given how full of holes Microsoft software has always been, this is not some airy fairy scifi kind of threat, it is a threat that is simply waiting to happen.

According to the Futurism article:

‘For now, the Copilot features will be technically opt-in, but it’s more than possible that this will change in the future. Remember when Microsoft tried to force everyone to use its last stab at a virtual assistant, Cortana, when Windows 10 came out? That also had voice controls and a host of privacy woes. This time it’ll be different, of course.’

I honestly don’t know what to say to people who are already using Windows 11.

Be careful?

Try not to put anything that is security dependent on your pc?

Good luck?

Seriously, I’ve always believed that AI would become an integral part of our future, but this is not it.

Why?

Because we are not the ones controlling the AI. That is such a huge caveat. Personally, I would get a kick out of having an AI assistant…but only if I owned it. And only if it lived on my pc and NOWHERE ELSE. The reality, however, is that we will neither own Copilot nor control where it ‘lives’ and who gets to see our data.

Do you really trust Microsoft to have YOUR best interests at heart?

For me, I’ll stay with Windows 10 until the programmes I need are no longer supported. Then I will probably leave Windows for good and migrate to Linux. I’ve wanted to get away from Windows for a very long time, but I was worried my tech skills would not be up to the job. Then I worried that I wouldn’t be able to do how-tos. Then I worried that the games I escape to wouldn’t be available…

Now, I’m finding that all three of my fears are proving to be groundless. Linux is a heck of a lot more ‘mainstream’ than it was, and now even my favourite games are being supported. Unfortunately, CorelDraw and Videostudio Pro are not supported, and I’ve invested too much time and money to just walk away. So, I’ll buy a top of the range anti-virus software to protect my Windows 10 pc, I’ll be careful not to get caught by scams, and I’ll wait.

Can you do the same? If you’re still on Windows 10, you CAN use third party software to protect your pc, or you can pay for extended security from Microsoft, or you can investigate some of the Linux offerings to see if any are right for you. Or you can do nothing and just hope that Microsoft won’t abuse your trust.

Have a great weekend,
Meeks