Microsoft announced in 2026 that its Edge browser is gaining a new Copilot AI feature that can gather and analyze information from all of a user’s open tabs simultaneously. The update allows users to ask Copilot questions about tab content, compare products across multiple pages, and summarize open articles.
Microsoft is retiring its existing Copilot Mode alongside this launch. That feature previously offered similar tab-reading capabilities along with agentic functions, such as booking reservations on a user’s behalf. Those agentic capabilities have been folded into Edge’s “Browse with Copilot” tool. Microsoft says users can “select which experiences you want or leave off the ones you don’t.”
Several additional AI features are arriving with the update. A “Study and Learn” mode can convert an article into a study session or interactive quiz. A separate tool transforms open tabs into AI-generated podcasts, similar to functionality found in Google’s NotebookLM. An AI writing assistant will also appear automatically when a user begins typing on a webpage.
Copilot in Edge on both desktop and mobile will support “long-term memory,” tailoring responses based on previous conversations. Users can also grant Copilot access to their browsing history to generate what Microsoft describes as more “relevant, high-quality answers.” A redesigned new tab page will combine chat, search, and web navigation, and a feature called Journeys will use AI to organize browsing history into revisitable categories.
On mobile, an Edge update will let users share their screen with Copilot and ask questions about what they are viewing. Microsoft says the app will display “clear visual cues” indicating when Copilot is active, listening, or taking an action.
The breadth of the update suggests Microsoft is positioning Copilot as a central layer across the entire Edge browsing experience, though how users respond to the expanded AI presence across their sessions remains to be seen.
Source: The Verge