What you need to know
- Microsoft Edge on Android has a new feature that can summarize webpages with the power of artificial intelligence.
- The feature is accessible through the Copilot button that lives at the bottom of the browser.
- Microsoft appears to be rolling out the feature in stages, as some have access to it on the stable version of Edge while others only see it if they're running Edge Canary on Android.
Microsoft Edge on Android has a new feature in the works that will help you get to the crux of the articles you read. The mobile browser now has a Copilot button at the bottom of the app that when clicked will generate a summary of whichever webpage you're on. The feature is powered by artificial intelligence, continuing Microsoft's push to integrate AI into more of its products.
Windows Latest first reported on the feature. It appears that the option is rolling out in stages, as some users only see if they're on Edge Canary for Android while others can use the feature when using the stable version of Edge for Android.
When you tap on the Copilot button, the browser creates a summary of the webpage you're on. Whether that summary is created with GPT-4 or not is up to you, as the interface has a toggle that lets you switch GPT-4 on or off.
In addition to creating summaries, the Copilot feature can answer questions. You can input text with a keyboard, but the first option that will appear is a microphone icon for speaking to the tool. Copilot also supports scanning images from your phone. I've only played around with this a little bit, but Edge was able to identify a picture of my dog sleeping on a bed.
Microsoft announced a unified version of Copilot earlier this year. The company had several versions of Copilot in testing before that announcement, but the folks at Microsoft decided to bring several separate Copilots together under a single brand.
