Copilot‘s next trick is diagnosing your PC’s problems, but the catch is that the assistant doing the diagnosing is itself part of the problem. Windows Latest reports that Microsoft is testing a new Copilot feature called PC Insights, which will let you ask the AI assistant natural language questions about your computer’s hardware and storage instead of digging through the Task Manager or Settings. The feature will reportedly allow users to ask questions like, “Do I have enough space for a 100GB game?” and Copilot will check the available storage to offer a response. Users will also be able to ask about CPU usage, battery health, etc., to diagnose issues.
What Copilot will be able to see
According to a Microsoft support document spotted by Windows Latest, PC Insights is expected to read CPU, RAM, and GPU usage, calculate free storage space, and check folder sizes for places like your Downloads or Documents. It will also be able to see connected USB devices, external drives, printers, webcams, and the state of the computer’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections.
The feature will reportedly be opt-in and will ask users for permission each time they ask Copilot a hardware-related question, unless a user switches it to “Always allow.” Microsoft’s AI assistant won’t be able to open individual files, and for now, it appears limited to flagging problems rather than fixing them.
Copilot’s own resource use weakens the pitch
While the PC Insights feature may sound helpful, it has one big caveat. That is, the app promising to flag what’s slowing down your PC has been found to be a resource hog. In its testing, Windows Latest found that the current Copilot app uses up to 1GB of RAM at idle and takes up quite a bit of storage as it ships with its own private copy of Microsoft Edge.
PC Insights could be genuinely useful for less tech-savvy folks. But it’s hard to fully trust a tool for spotting resource problems when it’s contributing to them itself.