You'll soon be able to summon accessibility features in Copilot in Windows 11
Microsoft has finally kicked off the 14th annual Ability Summit this week.
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Key notes
- Microsoft launches the 14th Ability Summit, aiming to enhance accessibility and inclusion worldwide.
- Windows 11’s Copilot receives updates for summoning accessibility tools like Live Captions and Narrator.
- New accessibility tools are introduced for Microsoft 365 apps, including Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.
Microsoft has finally kicked off the 14th annual Ability Summit, a global event focused on advancing accessibility and inclusion for the over 1.3 billion people with disabilities worldwide. Copilot in Windows 11, its popular AI assistant, is getting interesting makeovers, among other things.
The Redmond-based tech giant announced a few new accessibility tools coming to its popular Windows 11 operating system. One of them is in the hotly-wanted Copilot for Windows, which will soon have features to summon Live Captions, Narrator, and other accessibility tools.
A new set of tools will also arrive in Microsoft 365 apps. They will help creators produce accessible content in Word, with upcoming availability in Outlook and PowerPoint.
Seeing AI, which is now available on Android, gains 14 new languages and generative AI models for richer image descriptions and chat capabilities. An Azure AI Audio Description solution accelerator uses Azure GPT-4 to describe videos for the blind or visually impaired.
There’s also a preview of ongoing work to empower people with ALS and other speech disabilities to have their own voice using AI. It’s called “Custom Neural Voice,” and the Redmond company has also been working with the community to perfect this tech for this year’s launch.
Copilot in Windows 11 is an AI assistance tool that’s soon to be a default experience in the popular operating system. It comes for free, but if you want to have it in Microsoft 365 apps, like Word, Excel, or others, you’d need to subscribe to Copilot Pro (for personal uses) or Copilot for Microsoft 365 (for business).
