Microsoft is starting to integrate AI shortcuts, or what it calls AI actions, into the File Explorer in Windows 11. These shortcuts let you right-click on a file and quickly get to Windows AI features like blurring the background of a photo, erasing objects, or even summarizing content from Office files.
Four image actions are currently being tested in the latest Dev Channel builds of Windows 11, including Bing visual search to find similar images on the web, the blur background and erase objects features found in the Photos app, and the remove background option in Paint.
Damn I thought it was going to be at least useful like a text prompt.
“Search all these files dumped and find me the ones from my old pc, move them all to the same location on the biggest spare partition that isn’t the os one, and then organize them into folders by general idea without breaking up the coherency of the directories. And do it without losing the existing modified or created dates. Retain the original organization in an xml doc that you can read, just in case I don’t like the organization and want to try again.”
Or
“Install all libre stuff and all of the most useful windows tools. Delete, disable, tear out, and block all telemetry from this Windows installation. There must be privacy and zero enshittification on this computer. Go through, file by file, including all hidden and file systems and services, reading through each and every binary, and decompile, rip out any spyware or telemetry, and recompile. You have a week and this system will be disconnected from the internet entirely for the duration. Go.”
This is the type of ai that would actually be useful to me. Imagine the power of being able to fully delegate lower level tasks like this.
What i would like an ai to do:
"Go through this mega dump of ROM files, if there are any that are (g) (j) (f) (s), delete them. If there are multiples, find the ! and delete all other copies.
What they attempt to give me: “we fucked up notepad with clippy mk II!”
Yeah, I’m using AI to create some simple python programs to do some work on my files. For example a popular music download site is giving you a “Artist - Album.zip” and Jellyfin likes it to be organized into Artist/Album and I created a simple python script that unzips everything into the correct structure. Or a simple script that searches multiple folders for the biggest files / duplicate files.
Yes, I know that I can do this with obscure bash and terminal black magic, but I’m familiar with python and it’s a great way to handle stuff. This is something that AI can do and where AI is actually helpful. Of course I could program those scripts myself, but it really is faster.
Current vision models are also awesome, esp. in combination with other technology. There is no reason that the Windows Explorer can’t find all pictures of your dog or every picture you took in London last September or every picture of a hamburger you took.
Features like that would also be awesome in a file explorer. But we are getting crap.
I feel like AI never has useful features like that, just weird little gimmicks.
I’m sure it would be possible to develop an actual AI assistant like that, FOSS of course.
not with LLMs, definitely
That’s why I said AI, not LLM
With current AI I doubt it, at best it would do it 90% and then completely screw up the rest of your files.
I think the prompts that ask to remove telemetry (or to be exact, stuff that try to modify system files) will just give you error. Similar to some current AI models that would just not run when it found some “prohibited” words in prompt.
“all your files are now on onedrive.”
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
I’d buy that for a dollar.
For the sake of argument, how do you expect something like that to be made for a dollar?
In China, and poorly? I dunno. You’ve never seen Robocop?
I haven’t seen Robocop yet… I need to. Saw some clips last night. Looks like fun.
It’s great. Don’t bother with the sequels, though.
But I enjoy terrible sequels…
In all seriousness, half the reason I want to watch Robocop is because of the “futuristic” Ford Taurus. I had a 1992 Taurus (second gen) for a couple years and simultaneously loved and hated that car.
Someday… 🥹