Microsoft promised it would scale back on AI visibility, but Copilot is now back to its original and invasive sidebar design
Microsoft has reverted its Copilot feature back to its original sidebar design, despite previous commitments to reduce AI visibility. This change has drawn criticism from Windows 11 users who feel that the integration of AI is excessive. The new docking options are still being rolled out, allowing for more customization but raising concerns about the company's dedication to scaling back AI features.
- ▪Microsoft has added new docking options to Copilot, returning to its original sidebar design.
- ▪Users have criticized the excessive use of AI and bloatware in Windows 11.
- ▪The new Copilot design prioritizes the AI assistant by resizing applications to make space.
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| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/microsoft-promised-it-would-scale-back-on-ai-visibility-but-copilot-is-now-back-to-its-original-and-invasive-sidebar-design |
| Publication time | Tue, 26 May 2026 11:24:13 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-26T11:27:48.613Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-26T11:27:48.613Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | mA2HOUczp3Ny |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Computing Software Windows Microsoft promised it would scale back on AI visibility, but Copilot is now back to its original and invasive sidebar design News By Isaiah Williams published 26 May 2026 What a mess When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Microsoft) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Microsoft has added new docking options to Copilot on Windows, reverting to the original sidebar designThis comes amid promises that Microsoft would scale back AI visibility and bloatware to improve WindowsThe new Copilot docking options are still in a…
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