According to Windows Central, Microsoft may add AI capabilities in some Windows 11 apps, such as Photos, the Snipping Tool, and Paint. "Some of these functions will require dedicated hardware, such as an NPU (neural processing unit) or VPU (vision processing unit), while others may not," the publication notes.
For the Photos app, Microsoft is preparing an artificial intelligence feature that will allow the app to recognize objects or people in photos and allow those elements to be cut and pasted somewhere else. It's a feature that iOS and Android have had for quite some time, so it's no surprise that Microsoft is gearing up to bring it to Windows.
As for the Snipping Tool, sources say the company wants to incorporate OCR (optical character recognition) technology to allow Windows to recognize text in screenshots for faster copying to the clipboard. Microsoft is also reportedly preparing to add OCR to the Camera app, allowing users to select text in a photo taken on the device.
Finally, sources say Microsoft is experimenting with bringing artificial intelligence to Windows 11's Paint app. Users could ask Paint to create a canvas based on user-defined criteria, similar to how Bing Image works Creator. Sources say the Paint AI integration will be based on the same technology used by Bing.