Windows 11's next big update finally has a date - it'll arrive on 26 September 2023, so there's not long to wait. This update is a big one, too, bringing with it the long-awaited arrival of Copilot AI.

Windows updates aren't normally news (as anyone who's sat and watched one slowly complete will know), but Copilot could be a genuine shakeup, one that will be well-timed given the announcements of the Surface Laptop Go 3 and the Surface Laptop Studio 2 at Microsoft's event this week.

The update will embed Copilot AI right into Windows 11 (it has previously been locked into Microsoft Edge for web browsing) and make it natively available in a wide range of Microsoft apps.

That means stalwarts like Microsoft Word (and the rest of the Office gang) but also newer standouts like Teams.

Copilot AI will work a little bit like having a Bing Chat window with you at all times - you'll be able to refer to it if you need help composing a paragraph of text, but it'll also be able to complete more unique tasks. It can sit as a sidebar on the edge of your screen just waiting for you to ask it to do something, or as an icon on your taskbar waiting to be clicked.

A lot of those tasks that Microsoft has so far showcased have involved hooking into your purchases and messages to help you with organisation - so, for example, if you're signed into your email address on Outlook you might be able to ask Copilot AI to find the receipt for those shoes you bought last week.

Or if you're added to a particularly labyrinthine thread of emails as part of a work project you're being onboarded for, you could ask it for a summary of the thread and get a hopefully more digestible segment to read.

The update doesn't have an Apple-style memorable name - it's still just an iterative Windows release, after all, and is called simply 23H2. It should be available from 26 September 2023 if you're running Windows 11, so get it downloaded and installed if you're keen to have a play with Copilot for yourself.