Outlook will auto-launch Copilot in Edge, just to piss you off | usagoldmines.com

Ugh. UGH. Apparently, Mirosoft is personally offended that most people aren’t using Copilot—despite how much Windows begs and forces it—and has thus resolved to shove it into yet another space where it isn’t welcome. A new “feature” in an upcoming build of Outlook will automatically launch the Copilot side pane in the Edge browser whenever you click a link.

This is, according to the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, “to provide contextual insights and actionable suggestion chips based on email and destination content.” It’s not specifically to piss me the hell off, but I’m choosing to read that between the lines anyway. The “feature” is scheduled to begin rolling out in May. The roadmap text is short, with no mention of whether users will be able to disable this behavior.

As The Register points out, this could easily cause Copilot to feed sensitive or confidential information into the “AI,” an issue that recently got Microsoft in hot water. The company is absolutely desperate to get users using Copilot, shoving it everywhere from Edge to the taskbar to freakin’ Notepad, even though basically no one is using it.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said that the “AI” industry needs to earn “social permission” to consume the massive amounts of energy it’s using, including straight-up burning jet fuel to power data centers. I would humbly suggest that if Microsoft truly desires permission to cram “AI” into every aspect of every single piece of software it makes and sells to users, it might try an innovative technique: FRIGGIN’ ASK THEM.