Until now, the AI features in Windows 11’s Notepad application have relied exclusively on cloud-based models—specifically Microsoft Copilot AI—subject to usage limits rather than offering unrestricted access.
Microsoft is now introducing support for on-device AI capabilities within Notepad. This means that if a user’s device is equipped with an NPU chip or NPU unit, the application can leverage Microsoft’s local AI models without requiring a Microsoft account or cloud connectivity. In this setup, Notepad and similar applications can process content directly on the device, ensuring that data never needs to be transmitted to external servers.
The local AI features in Notepad include text generation, rewriting existing passages, and summarizing content. Since these tasks demand relatively modest computational power, the on-device AI processors are expected to handle them swiftly and efficiently.
For many users, Microsoft’s decision to enrich Notepad with such advanced capabilities is a welcome upgrade. However, a portion of the user base remains critical, arguing that the once-minimalist Notepad has grown increasingly complex.
Today’s Notepad not only supports plain text but also Markdown formatting, spell-checking, tabulation, and more—placing it closer in functionality to feature-rich code editors. For users who prize simplicity, this evolution feels less like progress and more like unnecessary bloat.
The Notepad version with on-device AI model support is currently available only to participants in the Windows Insider Preview program. Users on the stable release will need to wait for a future rollout.
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