The Microsoft Edge browser is undergoing a fundamental transformation on Windows 11, one that’s quietly but persistently shifting its core experience toward a world where artificial intelligence sits front and center. This marks the most significant UI overhaul for Edge since its Chromium rebirth, but the real headline isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about an entirely new mode of browsing, one where Microsoft Copilot isn’t an optional sidebar, but the default starting point every time you fire up your browser. Edge’s “Copilot-first” UI is now rolling out to select users, and even as some may not see it just yet, it’s setting the stage for the next decade of productivity and web interaction on Windows.
For years, Edge’s New Tab Page (NTP) was familiar: a streamlined launchpad featuring most visited sites, a customizable background, and—if enabled—a news feed from MSN. With the latest server-side update, that entire homepage paradigm is being rewritten. Instead of suggested sites or trending articles, users are greeted by a clean, Copilot search bar right in the middle of the screen. The friendly message “Ready when you are” underscores a shift from a passive, link-filled page to one characterized by active, AI-powered engagement.
At the heart of this redesign lies a concise, intuitive menu dubbed “Search & Chat,” which pulls Copilot out of the sidebar and places it at the center of attention. From here, users can “Ask Copilot” (launching the familiar Copilot chat interface), delve into “Think Deeper” (a deep-dive mode routed through copilot.microsoft.com), or pick “Actions”—a forward-looking feature that hints at more agentic, automation-oriented plans for the browser. Currently, “Actions” connects to Copilot’s web search tool, letting you task the assistant with chores from booking tickets to planning trips, and even logging into sites on your behalf. Each of these features appears as a button or bubble, and clicking them whisks you straight into the relevant Copilot-powered experience.
Notably, much of this functionality is being rolled out via server-side controls, rather than user-enabled flags, marking an aggressive move by Microsoft to test the new UI live with segments of the Edge user base. Early indications suggest that only a subset of Edge users on both Windows 11 and the still-supported Windows 10 are seeing Copilot mode enabled by default as of now.
While the ultimate goal of a fully “agentic” Edge—one that doesn’t just fetch information but proactively assists, acts, and adapts in real time—remains on the horizon, this new UI marks a significant waypoint. It’s a step away from simply embedding AI in the sidebar and toward making assistive intelligence core to how users discover, digest, and act on web content.
Critically, Microsoft’s present focus isn’t just about chatting with Copilot or generating content. The new “Actions” tab in Edge is notable because it hints at future capabilities where Copilot could perform multi-step web tasks, mirroring the agentic models gaining traction in competing platforms. For now, much of this is limited to site searches and basic web automation, but the infrastructure is being laid for something far more ambitious.
As this feature rolls out, Copilot’s context-awareness is being more tightly woven into core browser functions. For example, Edge is now rolling out a new “Ctrl+F” (“Find on page”) feature powered by Copilot. Alongside the traditional on-page term highlighter, users see a “Copilot” suggestion. Clicking it passes your search directly to Copilot, triggering an automated review of the page for information about that term—effectively asking, “What does this page say about [searched term]?” Unlike the mechanical highlighting of the old find box, Copilot attempts to understand, summarize, and report contextually relevant hits.
However, there are caveats. According to both direct user experience and technical testing, Copilot still struggles with very large, content-heavy pages—such as full web source code or longform documentation—owing to relatively modest context window limits (estimated at below 200,000 characters, which translates roughly to 70–80 pages of text). Competitors like Gemini 2.5 Pro are reportedly more capable at ingesting truly massive documents for in-depth summarization. For everyday browsing, though, Copilot’s contextual awareness is generally a step forward—though power users dealing with exceptionally large documents might still need the conventional “find” workflow.
Copilot Discover aims to curate news stories—sourced from MSN—using Copilot for selection, summarization, and presentation. This vision is for a smarter, more relevant content feed that isn’t just a river of headlines, but an AI-filtered digest tailored to your interests and habits. However, this Copilot-driven news feed is not yet present in stable Edge builds; it remains isolated to experimental channels for the time being. As such, users in production will notice a streamlined, news-less NTP until Copilot Discover is ready for prime time.
Microsoft’s latest update is more than catch-up; it’s a direct response to a wave of browser innovation where generative, autonomous AI agents are the new standard, not a novelty. By leaning into Copilot-first experiences, Microsoft is betting that users want integrated AI—beyond text-box gimmicks and niche plug-ins— woven into the heart of their browser experience.
Still, there’s healthy skepticism among power users about surrendering too much autonomy to AI, especially with privacy concerns in play. Edge, after all, occupies a privileged position on Windows, and Microsoft’s past record with forced updates, search defaults, and data telemetry prompts measured wariness in the tech-savvy community.
Insider reports and technical roadmaps suggest future Edge builds may see small, in-house language models embedded locally for even more contextual, low-latency AI support—minimizing cloud calls and improving privacy. This would echo current industry efforts where local “small models” supplement or even replace cloud-based giants for certain workflows.
Meanwhile, features like Copilot Discover hint at broader ambitions: a browser that not only summarizes and assists, but also anticipates needs, adapts in real time, and coordinates across tabs, services, and devices. Microsoft is staking its claim right as Perplexity, Google, and a rising tide of independent “agentic browsers” race to redefine how users interact with the web.
Power users and privacy advocates will watch closely as Edge’s Copilotification unfolds, weighing productivity gains against concerns over data use and seamlessness. For the everyday user, the promise of faster answers, smarter workflows, and more creative outputs will be compelling—provided performance remains strong and feature gaps (like Copilot Discover) are filled swiftly.
Ultimately, as the agentic era takes shape, the challenge for Microsoft is not just to build the most clever digital assistant, but to do so while maintaining user trust, transparency, and continuous utility. If they succeed, Edge’s Copilot-first experience could become the default way millions interact with the web—one query, one plan, and one (AI-powered) action at a time.
Source: windowslatest.com Microsoft Edge shifts to Copilot-first UI on Windows 11 as Perplexity Comet gains traction
The Copilot-First Experience: What’s Changing in Edge on Windows 11?
For years, Edge’s New Tab Page (NTP) was familiar: a streamlined launchpad featuring most visited sites, a customizable background, and—if enabled—a news feed from MSN. With the latest server-side update, that entire homepage paradigm is being rewritten. Instead of suggested sites or trending articles, users are greeted by a clean, Copilot search bar right in the middle of the screen. The friendly message “Ready when you are” underscores a shift from a passive, link-filled page to one characterized by active, AI-powered engagement.At the heart of this redesign lies a concise, intuitive menu dubbed “Search & Chat,” which pulls Copilot out of the sidebar and places it at the center of attention. From here, users can “Ask Copilot” (launching the familiar Copilot chat interface), delve into “Think Deeper” (a deep-dive mode routed through copilot.microsoft.com), or pick “Actions”—a forward-looking feature that hints at more agentic, automation-oriented plans for the browser. Currently, “Actions” connects to Copilot’s web search tool, letting you task the assistant with chores from booking tickets to planning trips, and even logging into sites on your behalf. Each of these features appears as a button or bubble, and clicking them whisks you straight into the relevant Copilot-powered experience.
Notably, much of this functionality is being rolled out via server-side controls, rather than user-enabled flags, marking an aggressive move by Microsoft to test the new UI live with segments of the Edge user base. Early indications suggest that only a subset of Edge users on both Windows 11 and the still-supported Windows 10 are seeing Copilot mode enabled by default as of now.
The Vision Behind the Shift: From “Copilotification” to Agentic Edge
The rapid introduction of Copilot as Edge’s front door is reportedly part of a sweeping agenda spearheaded by Mustafa Suleyman, CEO at Microsoft AI. Industry insiders point to a clear ambition: reimagining Edge as an “AI-first browser” drawing inspiration from emerging competitors like Perplexity’s Comet—a new-generation browser that already deploys AI “agents” to manage everything from basic searches to orchestrating complex, multi-step browsing sessions.While the ultimate goal of a fully “agentic” Edge—one that doesn’t just fetch information but proactively assists, acts, and adapts in real time—remains on the horizon, this new UI marks a significant waypoint. It’s a step away from simply embedding AI in the sidebar and toward making assistive intelligence core to how users discover, digest, and act on web content.
Critically, Microsoft’s present focus isn’t just about chatting with Copilot or generating content. The new “Actions” tab in Edge is notable because it hints at future capabilities where Copilot could perform multi-step web tasks, mirroring the agentic models gaining traction in competing platforms. For now, much of this is limited to site searches and basic web automation, but the infrastructure is being laid for something far more ambitious.
Search, Summarization, and Creativity at Your Fingertips
The central Copilot search bar in Edge opens up several new workflows. Options like “Write,” “Create an image,” and “Make a plan” place AI-generated writing, image creation, and scheduling just a click away. Instead of navigating through tools or browser add-ons, users can start these creative or productivity workflows from the unified Copilot entry point, emphasizing Microsoft’s push for a seamless, integrated AI experience.As this feature rolls out, Copilot’s context-awareness is being more tightly woven into core browser functions. For example, Edge is now rolling out a new “Ctrl+F” (“Find on page”) feature powered by Copilot. Alongside the traditional on-page term highlighter, users see a “Copilot” suggestion. Clicking it passes your search directly to Copilot, triggering an automated review of the page for information about that term—effectively asking, “What does this page say about [searched term]?” Unlike the mechanical highlighting of the old find box, Copilot attempts to understand, summarize, and report contextually relevant hits.
However, there are caveats. According to both direct user experience and technical testing, Copilot still struggles with very large, content-heavy pages—such as full web source code or longform documentation—owing to relatively modest context window limits (estimated at below 200,000 characters, which translates roughly to 70–80 pages of text). Competitors like Gemini 2.5 Pro are reportedly more capable at ingesting truly massive documents for in-depth summarization. For everyday browsing, though, Copilot’s contextual awareness is generally a step forward—though power users dealing with exceptionally large documents might still need the conventional “find” workflow.
The End of the MSN Feed? Introducing Copilot Discover
Another notable casualty of this redesign—at least in the present stable builds—is the longstanding MSN news feed, a fixture on Edge’s New Tab Page for years. Users accustomed to personalized news blips and trending headlines will find those elements conspicuously absent as Copilot claims the NTP’s center stage. Microsoft isn’t abandoning curated news, though. Windows Latest and other sources report that in preview builds (like Edge Canary), the company is already piloting a Copilot-powered news experience called “Copilot Discover.”Copilot Discover aims to curate news stories—sourced from MSN—using Copilot for selection, summarization, and presentation. This vision is for a smarter, more relevant content feed that isn’t just a river of headlines, but an AI-filtered digest tailored to your interests and habits. However, this Copilot-driven news feed is not yet present in stable Edge builds; it remains isolated to experimental channels for the time being. As such, users in production will notice a streamlined, news-less NTP until Copilot Discover is ready for prime time.
Why Now? Microsoft’s Race Against Perplexity’s Comet and Other Agentic Browsers
The timing of Edge’s Copilotification is no coincidence. Perplexity’s Comet browser has made waves in technology circles for its aggressive deployment of AI “agents”—discrete, autonomous processes capable of understanding intent, automating research, and completing multi-step web tasks. The Comet model goes beyond AI chatbots: its agents can maintain context across sessions, recall previous actions, and even orchestrate complex searches or bookings.Microsoft’s latest update is more than catch-up; it’s a direct response to a wave of browser innovation where generative, autonomous AI agents are the new standard, not a novelty. By leaning into Copilot-first experiences, Microsoft is betting that users want integrated AI—beyond text-box gimmicks and niche plug-ins— woven into the heart of their browser experience.
Still, there’s healthy skepticism among power users about surrendering too much autonomy to AI, especially with privacy concerns in play. Edge, after all, occupies a privileged position on Windows, and Microsoft’s past record with forced updates, search defaults, and data telemetry prompts measured wariness in the tech-savvy community.
Critical Analysis: Strengths, Ambitions, and Risks
Notable Strengths
- Unified, Intuitive AI Access: The Copilot-first UI turns every new browsing session into an opportunity for creative, productive, or analytic workflows. By centralizing AI features, Edge reduces friction between intent and action.
- Future-proofing Against Competition: By matching, and arguably leapfrogging, Perplexity and other agentic browsers at the UI level, Edge positions itself to remain relevant even as browsing paradigms shift from document-based sessions to agent-driven flows.
- Integrated Automation: With features like “Actions,” Edge lays early groundwork for task automation. While the current scope is limited, these workflows could dramatically simplify everything from trip planning to online research as capabilities expand.
Potential Risks and Limitations
- Premature Exclusion of Familiar Features: The removal of the MSN news feed in stable builds leaves some users with a sparse experience, and the delay in rolling out Copilot Discover creates a gap in content personalization.
- Copilot’s Context Limits: For users working with especially lengthy or complex documents, Copilot’s maximum context window still lags behind competitors, occasionally producing truncated or incomplete answers.
- Privacy Concerns: Always-on AI, especially one that claims to “know the context of the page,” may raise red flags among users cautious about data privacy, especially in regulated industries. Microsoft will need to be transparent about data handling and provide granular controls to assuage these concerns.
- Non-Uniform Rollout: The current A/B testing of Copilot-first features leads to an inconsistent user experience across the installed base, and power users frustrated by abrupt changes may seek alternatives or re-enable classic layouts where possible.
The Road Ahead: Toward an Agentic Browser Future
For Microsoft, the Copilotification of Edge is only the opening move. As AI chatbots mature into full-fledged agents capable of multi-modal reasoning, memory, and action execution, the browser itself is set to evolve from a passive portal to a proactive digital assistant.Insider reports and technical roadmaps suggest future Edge builds may see small, in-house language models embedded locally for even more contextual, low-latency AI support—minimizing cloud calls and improving privacy. This would echo current industry efforts where local “small models” supplement or even replace cloud-based giants for certain workflows.
Meanwhile, features like Copilot Discover hint at broader ambitions: a browser that not only summarizes and assists, but also anticipates needs, adapts in real time, and coordinates across tabs, services, and devices. Microsoft is staking its claim right as Perplexity, Google, and a rising tide of independent “agentic browsers” race to redefine how users interact with the web.
Conclusion
The transformation of Microsoft Edge into a Copilot-first browser on Windows 11 signals a bold reimagining of what browsing can be, steering away from static pages and familiar routines in favor of active, AI-enhanced experiences. While the initial transition brings trade-offs—most notably, the (temporary) loss of MSN feeds and some inconsistencies in rollout—Microsoft’s ambitions are clear: own the “AI-first” workspace before competitors do.Power users and privacy advocates will watch closely as Edge’s Copilotification unfolds, weighing productivity gains against concerns over data use and seamlessness. For the everyday user, the promise of faster answers, smarter workflows, and more creative outputs will be compelling—provided performance remains strong and feature gaps (like Copilot Discover) are filled swiftly.
Ultimately, as the agentic era takes shape, the challenge for Microsoft is not just to build the most clever digital assistant, but to do so while maintaining user trust, transparency, and continuous utility. If they succeed, Edge’s Copilot-first experience could become the default way millions interact with the web—one query, one plan, and one (AI-powered) action at a time.
Source: windowslatest.com Microsoft Edge shifts to Copilot-first UI on Windows 11 as Perplexity Comet gains traction
