Microsoft rolls out AI-enabled Notepad to Windows Insiders

Windows Insiders will soon get firsthand experience of Microsoft's AI ambitions for Paint and Notepad: the image editor is getting Generative Fill and Erase and the text editor is getting a Rewrite function.

We'd been hearing since January that Microsoft Notepad would get an AI makeover – and yesterday it was confirmed Microsoft will roll out a new version of the text editor with generative AI options.

Dubbed "Rewrite," the function takes a text selection and rewrites it based on the user's selections of tone, format, and length. So if, for example, a user has text that they think is too wordy or casual, Rewrite will provide three variations they can pick from. Alternatively, the user can opt to revert to the original text.

As for the generated text, Microsoft uses filtering to prevent problematic content being added. The Windows maker says the filtering is "based on criteria ...