Copilot Vision Comes to Edge: Microsoft’s On-Screen AI Goes Free
▼ Summary
– Microsoft’s Copilot Vision, a screen-aware AI assistant, is now available for free in the Edge browser.
– Vision is voice-activated, recognizing content on your screen and offering guidance without controlling or clicking anything.
– This free version is browser-specific and does not include the full Copilot Pro experience, which remains exclusive to subscribers.
– To activate Vision, users must opt in via the Copilot page in Edge and use the microphone icon in the sidebar.
– The assistant logs responses for quality but does not retain voice inputs or screen data, and performance may vary based on hardware.
Now available in Edge, no subscription required
Microsoft’s screen-aware AI assistant, Copilot Vision, is now rolling out for free inside the Edge browser, according to Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft AI’s newly appointed CEO. Suleyman shared the news on Bluesky, marking a subtle but important step in Microsoft’s push to bring more of its AI tools directly into users’ workflows—without paywalls.
Vision is voice-activated. You speak; it listens. And once it’s enabled, the assistant “sees” what you see. It doesn’t control your screen or click anything, but it can recognize content and offer guidance based on what’s displayed. Microsoft calls this a “talk-based experience,” designed to support tasks while your hands are occupied—like walking you through a cooking recipe or pulling highlights from a dense job listing to help you prep for an interview.
To be clear, this is not the full Copilot Pro experience. The free version inside Edge is a browser-specific rollout. System-wide support—like using Copilot Vision to guide you through apps such as Photoshop or games like Minecraft—remains exclusive to paying subscribers. Microsoft says that level of access is still part of its Copilot Pro tier.
How to activate Copilot Vision in Edge
To try Vision, you’ll need to launch Microsoft’s Copilot page using the Edge browser. A prompt should appear asking if you want to opt in. After accepting, you’ll be able to access Vision from the Copilot sidebar: click the microphone icon, wait for the activation chime, and look out for a slight tint shift in your browser window, your signal that Vision is live. (To try out Copilot Vision, open this link to Microsoft’s website in the Edge browser).
In practice, the experience isn’t flawless yet. Activation might take a few tries, and some users have reported incomplete setup flows or missing interface elements. Microsoft hasn’t said much about known issues, but hardware may play a role. On lower-end devices, performance lags or failed sessions seem more likely.
Microsoft says Copilot Vision’s responses are logged for quality, but the assistant doesn’t retain your voice inputs, screen images, or page data. You can stop sharing at any time by ending the session or closing the browser.
Vision is unlikely to replace your mouse or keyboard anytime soon, but its gradual expansion hints at a long-term goal: embedding a context-aware assistant directly into everyday browsing, one window at a time.
