Microsoft to trim Copilot menu actions as Windows design VP confirms AI use

The menu change, reported by TechRadar citing Windows Latest, affects the context menu that appears when a user right-clicks a file or folder. In a post on the Microsoft 365 Message Center, Microsoft said: “We’re retiring the OneDrive Copilot Summarize, Create FAQ, Compare Files, Ask a question, Explain image, Explain images, Compare images, Extract text actions from the File Explorer context menu.”

The actions are tied to OneDrive, so users who do not use Microsoft’s cloud storage would not have seen them, according to TechRadar. The options will remain available through the “Ask Copilot” icon in the right-click menu, the report said. Microsoft plans to begin the change in mid-November and have the options removed by the end of the year.

The disclosure about AI use came separately. Diego Baca, Microsoft’s vice president of design for Windows, posted a reply on X to a comment calling for “Windows design unification” and the use of AI to help achieve it. Baca wrote: “On AI agents, 100% agree. I’m not the best person to speak to the engineering side, but AI has already helped our design team accelerate significantly. We’re even seeing designers contribute directly to code fixes that improve craft, consistency, and quality. That’s exciting progress, and we’re only getting started.”

TechRadar reported that the admission drew attention on social media, particularly Baca’s statement that AI is helping the Windows 11 design team complete tasks faster and that designers are contributing code fixes. On Reddit, an upvoted post complained: “We noticed [the use of AI in coding], the rapid decline in quality, every patch bricking at least some devices, major releases bricking entire fleets, and the introduction of major security vulnerabilities that are easily exploitable makes it clear the codebase is being vibecoded with insufficient code review and testing.”

Other comments made similar accusations, according to TechRadar. One said Linux could become mainstream “not because it becomes better, but because Microslop becomes unusable thanks to AI integrations.”

TechRadar assessed that Baca’s comment was broad and may refer more to design brainstorming than to coding. It said designers may now contribute code fixes with AI, but such work is likely limited to simple interface tweaks and polish that are passed to software engineers for review, with the aim of saving time. TechRadar also said the hostile reaction was unfair because Baca was being honest about Microsoft’s use of AI, and it argued that the reality is not that Windows 11’s interface is suddenly being widely “vibe-coded.” The report linked users’ frustration to broader problems with Windows 11 bug testing and flaky updates, and to quality assurance processes that fail to catch problems before release, rather than to the design team’s use of AI.