Microsoft pushes AI updates in Windows 11 as it ends support for Windows
10
[October 17, 2025] By
MATT O'BRIEN
Microsoft is encouraging people to talk to their laptops as it rolls out
new artificial intelligence updates to Windows 11 and pushes users to
phase out its predecessor, Windows 10.
Microsoft ended free security support for Windows 10 this week, though
millions of people still use personal computers running the older
operating system.
To entice people to upgrade, the software giant on Thursday announced
new Windows 11 features, most of them further integrating the company's
AI chatbot, Copilot, into the experience of using a laptop.
Among the features is a voice mode that enables users to dictate “Hey,
Copilot” to start chatting with their computer instead of typing or
clicking a touchpad.
Microsoft first introduced Windows 10 a decade ago and launched its
successor, Windows 11, in 2021.
But many people around the world still are using Windows 10,
particularly those with older computers that can't upgrade to Windows
11. Consumer advocates have spent months petitioning Microsoft to extend
technical support for an estimated hundreds of millions of devices that
will no longer get automatic security fixes.
“With the end of Windows 10, users face the choice between exposing
themselves to cyberattacks or discarding their old computers and buying
new ones,” said Brenna Stevens of the Oregon State Public Interest
Research Group, which advocated on behalf of local repair shops,
students and others.
Microsoft has said people can pay extra for a year of extended security
support through October 2026. Some users, including those in the
European Union as well as U.S. users who can synchronize with
Microsoft's cloud service, will be able to get that extended support for
free.
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 But most people faced with
unsupported devices are likely to either keep using them despite the
vulnerabilities or throw them away, which "creates both a security
problem and an environmental problem," generating huge amounts of
toxic electronic waste, said Nathan Proctor, who leads PIRG's Right
to Repair campaign. Both PIRG and Microsoft urge those who are
replacing their computers to avoid sending their older models to the
landfill.
Those concerns were not a focus of Microsoft's Windows 11
announcements Thursday. Instead, Yusuf Mehdi, an executive vice
president and chief marketing officer for Microsoft's consumer
division, argued that conversing with a laptop will be “as
transformative as the mouse and keyboard” in shaping the PC
experience. Microsoft says all Windows 11 users will also now have
access to Copilot Vision, an AI feature that can analyze and give
feedback on the documents, video games and other activities
happening on the screen.
Mehdi acknowledged it could take some adjustment to get used to
human-computer conversations in shared workspaces.
“Just like when the mouse came out, people have to figure out when
to use it, what’s the right way, how to make it happen,” Mehdi told
reporters.
The updates are Microsoft's latest attempt to make its widely used
Windows operating system a gateway to hook people on its suite of
generative AI tools. The tech giant competes heavily on AI services
with Apple, Google and startups like Anthropic and OpenAI.
Mehdi said the updates are “not a replacement for Recall," a
screen-tracking feature on some Windows computers that gives Copilot
a "photographic memory" of a user's virtual activity. Microsoft CEO
Satya Nadella described it last year as a step toward machines that
“instantly see us, hear, reason about our intent and our
surroundings," but the idea was met with criticism from privacy and
security experts and took a year before it started to roll out.
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