Windows 11 users, take note - literally - Notepad is rumored to get an AI 'Cowriter' soon

Windows 11's Notepad, the venerable default app, is set to be infused with the power of AI in the near future.

Windows Central's Zac Bowden spotted that leaker PhantomOfEarth on X (formerly Twitter) did some digging and discovered that there are references to a 'Cowriter' feature for Notepad in Windows 11.

That includes files such as 'CoWriterCreditLimitDialog' along with 'CoWriterDropDownButton' and 'CoWriterInfoButton' plus more besides.

PhantomOfEarth reckons that this functionality is inbound for the default app soon enough.

It's not a big surprise, really, as Microsoft has been developing Notepad in recent times, adding new features like an autosave capability. And of course, there's a big push to jam AI into pretty much everything in Windows 11 - the example that springs readily to mind is the recent arrival of Cocreator in Paint.

And just like Cocreator in Paint, Cowriter looks set to be on a waitlist when it first emerges (rolling out gradually to folks, rather than turning up for everyone from the get-go - which is increasingly Microsoft's policy with features for Windows 11 these days).

What will Cowriter be capable of? That's less clear right now, but Tero Alhonen on X also tweeted to share a screenshot of the kind of functionality we might expect from the AI assistant in Notepad.

As you can see, you'll be able to select a section of text and get it rewritten in a longer form, or summarized, and there's the ability to change the tone of delivery too. All of this is much like the existing functionality in Copilot (or Bing Chat, as it used to be called).

The likely catch, as it were, is that as with Cocreator, you'll probably have to be logged in to your Microsoft Account in order to use Cowriter.

• Read more: Rumor that Windows 12 will charge a subscription fee is shot down in flames
• Read more: Windows 11's Copilot AI might take over your desktop in the future
• Read more: Microsoft urged to extend Windows 10's lifespan or face 'biggest jump in junked computers ever'