The eternal tug of war between keeping Windows 11 as up-to-date as possible and avoiding the potential chaos behind every step in that direction continues.
Microsoft's latest fix, part of the Windows 11 24H2 (KB5053598) update, resolves a peculiar Copilot issue that will divide its userbase into two camps:
Those happy to see things righted and those who thought of this particular bug as a long-overdue feature.
For a company so hell-bent on converting the world's most popular operating system into an AI-powered platform of the future, the original KB5053598 update included one of the more embarrassing gaffes in Microsoft's recent history.
Originally intended to offer several miscellaneous security improvements to internal OS functionality, the update also completely uninstalled the company's flagship AI assistant, Copilot.
More embarrassingly for Microsoft, some users saw it as a blessing, with one user even referring to it as "the greatest bug in living history."
Copilot returns to side-stick Windows 11
Following a few days of Windows users flying solo, Microsoft's AI has returned to its side-stick position.
Microsoft has since quietly admitted that the issue has been resolved within the comments of its KB5053598 update support page (as spotted by Windows Latest).
According to the support page, the bug both uninstalled and unpinned Copilot from the Windows taskbar on affected devices.
Thankfully (depending on who you ask), the bug didn't affect all Copilot-related services, as Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI-powered office suite, wasn't affected.
The fix will automatically attempt to reinstate the AI assistant, though any still missing the tool can re-install it from the Microsoft Store and manually repin it to the taskbar.
Microsoft Copilot still receiving flak
Microsoft was quick to find a solution to the problem posed by its most recent Windows update. However, not all users found it to be an issue in the first place.
Since its launch in September 2023, Copilot (along with several other AI-powered tools Microsoft has brought to the Windows operating system) has faced criticism from users who find it intrusive, or think of it as unnecessary "bloat."
Following initial reports of Copilot's accidental deletion, some users took to social media to celebrate.
"I wish this wasn't a bug," one Reddit user hoped in vain. With similar sentiments shared by many others.
Copilot can't stick the landing with some users
Given the amount of importance that Microsoft has placed on Copilot, it's shocking to see just how celebrated its accidental dismissal from the platform has been.
Dive into any discussion about the AI assistant online and you'll be hard-pressed to find many users saying anything positive.
The animosity towards features like Copilot may ultimately boil down to users feeling that Microsoft is neglecting several aspects of Windows to focus on its AI push.
Platform instability (especially surrounding updates), platform bloat, intrusive ads, and issues with the New Outlook app all appear to be issues the Windows community sees as a higher priority than broader Copilot integration.
Still, Microsoft's vision for an AI-powered Windows platform comes first, and the company seems ultimately unswayed by online reaction to its AI assistant or similarly AI-backed tools like Recall.
The recent Windows update blunder appears to have reinforced skepticism surrounding these tools. Instead of users realizing that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, many simply enjoyed a short-lived vacation from what they see as one of Microsoft's biggest missteps in recent years.
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