Latest Windows 11 Update Puts Bing AI on Your Taskbar

A huge update for Windows 11 adds loads of new options, from an AI-powered Bing taskbar search to more energy-saving settings.

Microsoft has started rolling out a bevy of new Windows 11 features, with the new AI-powered Bing taking a front seat. Bing now has a dedicated spot in the Windows taskbar, which you can use for searches, answering questions, chat simulations, and other AI-driven tasks.

Phone Link for iOS is also in the testing phase. When publicly available, it will simplify connecting your Apple smartphone to your Windows machine, not just for transferring photos and videos but also for transferring calls and texts to your laptop or desktop. Android users can look forward to an enhanced Phone Link experience as well, with Samsung phones being granted a faster one-tap hotspot connection—plus browser session transferring.

Additional new features include speedier Windows Studio Effect controls for video calls and quickly jumping from messaging to videos (and between conversations) in Chat. Quick Assist is being added to the Start menu, the taskbar will automatically collapse when disconnecting a touchscreen device from a mouse and keyboard, and the Snipping Tool is being streamlined.

New widgets like Phone Link and Xbox Game Pass are also being added, along with widgets for third-party apps like Spotify. Notepad is getting tabs for easier organization, braille support is coming to Narrator, and Voice Access is leaving its preview phase, so you'll soon be able to operate apps with just your voice. And if you want your machine to use less energy, several new recommendations and options for reducing power consumption are on the way.

Many of these updates and changes are releasing today via Windows 11 Update, though Microsoft hasn't specified which ones are being made available first. So some of these changes will take a bit longer to roll out. However, it does expect to complete the delivery of all features in March's Windows Security update.