Notepad on Windows 11 to Acquire an Offline AI Writing Capability
Microsoft recently announced a major update for the "Notepad" app on Windows 11 for proliferating powerful AI capabilities that the updated app shall now generate, summarize, and rewrite texts locally on users' computers without the need for internet access or even a Microsoft 365 subscription.
How the AI Functions Work Locally
The newly introduced features include "Summarize", "Write", and "Rewrite" which function purely offline. For this to work, there are two main requirements:
- Language model already pre-loaded in the PC.
- The PC should have a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for hardware requirements of Copilot+ feature set.
Subscription and Account Requirements
Undoubtedly, one of the most interesting things about this update is that it gives the user access to the local AI model without the need for either a Microsoft account or a paid subscription. For the subscriber, the freedom to switch between local and cloud-based models when required would be provided.
"Notepad" now supports AI functions: "Summarize", "Write", and "Rewrite" on all computers with Copilot+; and that too without having to go for a subscription [setup]. Besides, if you have a subscription, you have the ability to easily toggle between local and cloud models. In case people have not logged in or don't have a subscription, they can utilize the local model to carry out their tasks.
— Dave Grochoki, head of Product Management at Microsoft
Availability
This new version of "Notepad" is already being delivered to users within Dev and Canary channels of the Windows 11 Insider Program. Microsoft is supposed to soon make it available in the stable version of Windows 11.
