Windows Copilot Preview Starts Rolling Out to Beta Channel Insiders

Microsoft has just released new Windows 11 preview builds for Insiders on the Dev and Beta channels. The Windows 11 Dev build 23516 brings several new features such as HDR background support, an expansion of Voice Access to the lock screen, and presence sensing improvements.

The Windows 11 Beta build 22631.2129 includes a couple of the new features that are also in today’s Dev Channel build 23516, but it also brings the Windows Copilot Preview to a subset of Beta Channel testers. While this is currently a controlled feature rollout, it’s the first indication that the feature should ship with Windows 11 version 23H2 later this year.

What’s new in the Windows 11 Dev build 23516

Here are the main features coming to the Dev Channel today:

Improved discoverability for screen casting: Windows 11 will now suggest Insiders to use screen casting when doing multitasking activities on their PCs. The Cast flyout in Quick settings will now provide step-by-step instructions for enabling the feature.

HDR background support: Insiders with HDR displays can now use HDR .jxr files as their desktop background, which will be displayed in HDR.

Voice Access expansion: The Voice Access accessibility feature can now be used to log in to your PC and access other areas of the Lock screen. This will allow users to dictate their password or PIN using an adapted keyboard with number labels.

More Narrator natural voices: Insiders can now use Narrator with new natural voices in French, Portuguese, English (India) , German, and Korean.

Presence sensing improvements: A new adaptive dimming setting is now available on PCs with presence sensors that support attention detection. The feature will intelligently dim your screen when you look away and undim it when you look back.

Please note that the Windows Copilot preview is still disabled on this build on devices managed with an Azure AD account. Microsoft has also temporarily disabled the setting for the never combined mode in the taskbar to fix an issue related to it.

What’s new in the Windows 11 Beta build 22631.2129

Here are the main changes included in the Windows 11 Insider build 22631.2129 for the group of Beta channel testers receiving new features. Again, you’ll find a couple of new Dev Channel features in that list, so please check the section above for more details about these.

Windows Copilot Preview: The new AI Assistant is rolling out to a subset of Insiders on the Beta Channel.

Dev Drive: Developers can use this feature to create a storage volume (50GB minimum) that improves performance for key developer workloads.

Correction commands in Voice Access: Insiders can now use commands to correct words that are misrecognized by voice access.

Passwordless experience with Windows Hello for Business: IT admins can use a new policy to hide passwords from certain Windows authentication scenarios, forcing users to use Windows Hello for Business in place of passwords.

Voice Access expansion to the lock screen: Please see above.

Improved discoverability for screen casting: Please see above.

Presence sensing improvements: Please see above.

New bell icon in system tray: In the system tray, a new bell icon will colorize with the PC’s accent color to warn users when new notifications came through.

Redesigned Task manager settings page: Microsoft has redesigned this page and it now follows the Windows 11 design language.

That’s quite a lot of changes for Insiders today, but there’s a good reason for that: Today marks also the beginning of the August 2023 Bug Bash, and Insiders on all channels have until Monday, August 7 to chase and report any bugs they find in the latest Windows 11 Insider builds.