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Microsoft Paint Gets AI Superpowers: The Coloring Book Feature You Didn't Know You Needed
Microsoft just did something unexpected. The company quietly rolled out AI-powered features to Paint and Notepad, two apps that have largely stayed the same since the early 2000s. But here's the thing: the newest addition to Paint sounds like something someone dreamed up after three espressos at a tech conference.
Coloring books. Generated by AI. In Microsoft Paint.
I get it. Your first reaction is probably "who asked for this?" And honestly, that's a fair question. But before you dismiss it as another gimmick, let's break down what's actually happening here, why Microsoft is doing it, and whether it actually matters.
The truth is, this feature reveals something bigger about how major tech companies are thinking about AI integration right now. They're not just bolting AI onto the features people use most. They're experimenting. They're testing. They're asking: what can AI do that genuinely changes how we work, even in unexpected ways?
Some of those experiments will stick. Some won't. But understanding what Microsoft is trying here matters because it shows us where the entire industry is headed.
What Exactly Is the Paint AI Coloring Book Feature?
Let's start with the basics. The new "Coloring Book" feature in Paint lets you generate blank coloring templates based on text descriptions. You type what you want, AI creates four variations, and you pick the one you like.
Here's how it works in practice. Open Paint on a Windows 11 Copilot Plus PC, click the Copilot menu, and select "Coloring Book." You're then presented with a text field where you describe what you want. Something like "a cute fluffy cat sitting on a donut" or "a magical forest with mushrooms and fireflies."
The AI processes your description and generates four different coloring book designs. Each one is rendered as a line drawing, perfect for coloring. You click whichever design appeals to you, it gets added to your canvas, and then you can either color it digitally in Paint or print it out and use traditional markers, colored pencils, or crayons.
The designs themselves are surprisingly detailed. They're not crude sketches or AI-generated messes. They're actual coloring book quality. The line work is clean. The designs are recognizable. The proportions generally make sense, even if they don't always nail the specific request perfectly.
But here's where the reality gets a bit rougher. The designs don't always deliver exactly what you asked for. Request "a cute fluffy cat on a donut," and you might get variations where the cat is barely touching the donut, or the face isn't fully rendered. One design Microsoft showed featured a cat that was... well, more conceptually a cat than an actual rendered cat.
That imperfection is actually important to understand. This isn't a feature that's trying to replace professional coloring book creators. It's a feature that generates "good enough" templates fast enough to be useful.
The 'Write' feature is the most robust with full functionality, while 'Summarize' is more limited. All features include real-time streaming for enhanced interactivity. Estimated data based on feature descriptions.
The Hardware Limitation: Why Copilot Plus PCs Matter
Here's a critical detail that changes everything: this feature only works on Copilot Plus PCs.
Copilot Plus is Microsoft's marketing term for Windows 11 devices with specialized hardware called the NPU (Neural Processing Unit). These are processors specifically designed to handle AI workloads locally on your device, rather than sending requests to the cloud.
Why does this matter? Because it signals what Microsoft is really doing here.
The company isn't primarily building this feature for existing Paint users. It's building it as a way to make Copilot Plus PCs more interesting, more valuable, more "worth the premium you're paying." If you spent the extra money for one of these devices, features like coloring book generation make your hardware choice feel justified.
It's a classic tech company strategy: use exclusive features to create hardware differentiation. Copilot Plus PCs cost more. They need compelling reasons to justify that cost. A tool that generates coloring books? That's compelling enough for a subset of users.
But this limitation also reveals something about the timeline we're in. AI is still expensive to run. Running it locally on dedicated hardware is faster and more efficient than sending requests to cloud servers. As the technology matures and becomes cheaper to run on standard processors, this exclusivity will eventually disappear.
For now though, if you want Paint's coloring book feature, you need the hardware. That's not changing anytime soon.
Who Actually Uses Paint in 2025?
Before we can understand why this feature exists, we need to talk about Paint itself. The app has an identity problem.
Paint in 2025 isn't the app people use for serious creative work. Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, Procreate, and a dozen other tools have completely eclipsed it for professionals. And amateurs generally use those same tools or web-based alternatives like Canva or Figma.
Paint exists in a weird middle ground. It's too limited for professionals, too complicated for people who just want to draw, and too dated in its interface for anyone who's used modern creative software.
So who actually uses Paint? A few specific groups:
Parents and educators. They use Paint because it comes free with Windows. Kids paint. Teachers use it for basic digital art lessons. It's accessible, simple, and they don't need to justify installing specialized software.
Casual users editing screenshots. Someone takes a screenshot, opens Paint, crops it, adds a circle around something, saves it. It's not that Paint is good at this. It's that it's there, and it works.
People who grew up with Paint. Some folks have genuine nostalgia for the app. They know how to use it. They're comfortable with it. Even though better options exist, they stick with what they know.
The coloring book feature is clearly aimed at the first group: parents and educators. These are people who might actually use Paint to print out coloring pages. The feature makes sense for them.
But here's the tension: are there enough of these people, using Paint specifically, that a major feature is worth developing? The answer is probably no. This feature exists more as a Copilot Plus differentiator than as a response to genuine user demand.
Estimated data shows North America leading the global coloring book market with a 35% share, followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Paint's Fill Tolerance Update: The Quiet Improvement
While the coloring book feature grabbed headlines, Paint also got a more practical upgrade that actually affects most users: a fill tolerance slider.
If you've ever used the paint bucket fill tool, you've run into the problem this solves. You click on an area to fill it with color. Sometimes it fills perfectly. Sometimes it fills way more than you intended because the tool is too sensitive to color variations. Sometimes it fills way less because it's too strict about what counts as the same color.
The new tolerance slider gives you fine-grained control over this behavior. You can dial in exactly how much color variation the fill tool will tolerate before it stops filling.
This is the kind of feature that doesn't sound exciting but actually improves the app meaningfully. It's the difference between Paint being frustrating and Paint working the way you expect. These small quality-of-life improvements matter more than flashy AI features for people who actually use the app regularly.
Importantly, this feature works on all Windows 11 devices, not just Copilot Plus PCs. It's a universal improvement that benefits everyone.
Notepad Gets AI Writing Assistance: Stream Processing Changes Everything
While Paint got visual AI features, Notepad got something arguably more useful: AI-powered writing assistance.
Notepad now includes three AI-powered text features: Write, Rewrite, and Summarize. None of these are new concepts. Chat GPT has had similar features for years. But here's what changed: Notepad now streams the results.
This matters more than it sounds.
When you use Chat GPT or most cloud-based writing tools, you click a button and wait for the full response. There's a noticeable delay. Sometimes it's seconds. Sometimes it's longer. You stare at a loading spinner and wait.
Streaming changes this. As the AI generates text, you see it appearing in real-time. The first words appear almost instantly. The rest follow in a rapid flow. Psychologically and practically, this feels faster and more interactive. You're not waiting for a complete response. You're watching the response generate.
For a tool like Notepad, this matters. Notepad is used for quick, lightweight note-taking. People using Notepad expect speed. Streaming makes the AI features feel integrated rather than bolted-on.
The three specific features are straightforward:
Write: You describe what you want written, and the AI generates text. Useful for starting documents, brainstorming text, or generating placeholder content.
Rewrite: You have existing text that's not quite right. You ask the AI to rewrite it with a specific tone or style. It reimagines your text without changing the core meaning.
Summarize: You paste or write longer text, and the AI condenses it into a summary. Useful for pulling key points out of longer documents.
None of these features are revolutionary. But they're genuinely useful for writers, students, and anyone who works with text regularly. The addition of streaming makes them feel fast and responsive.
The Markdown Love: Strikethrough and Nested Lists
Here's something that genuinely matters for power users: Notepad now supports strikethrough formatting and nested lists in Markdown.
Markdown is a simple formatting language used by developers, writers, and anyone who values lightweight, readable text files. Instead of using a word processor with complex formatting, you write plain text with simple markers for bold, italics, headers, lists, and other formatting.
Previously, Notepad had limited Markdown support. You could do basic things like bold and italics and simple lists. But you couldn't do strikethrough (using text syntax) or create nested lists (lists within lists).
Adding these features matters because it makes Notepad viable for more serious note-taking and documentation work. Developers who use Markdown regularly can now use Notepad for more complex documents. The app stops being just a lightweight text editor and becomes a genuinely useful Markdown editor.
These additions are small, but they represent Microsoft actually paying attention to how power users actually work. Rather than forcing people into Word or One Note, the company is improving the tool that power users actually prefer.
Paint excels in ease of use and cost, making it ideal for casual users, while Adobe Firefly and Midjourney lead in sophistication for professional use. Estimated data based on feature descriptions.
Rollout Timeline: Windows Insiders Get First Access
Both features are rolling out through Windows Insider channels first. Specifically, they're available in the Canary and Dev channels of Windows 11.
This is Microsoft's testing ground. Windows Insiders are users who opt into receiving early versions of Windows updates before they reach the general public. They test features, report bugs, and provide feedback that helps Microsoft refine releases.
The Canary channel is the most unstable. It receives updates multiple times weekly, with new experimental features. The Dev channel is slightly more stable. The Beta channel is more stable still. Features typically progress through these channels before reaching Release Preview and finally the public release.
For Paint's coloring book feature and Notepad's streaming improvements, expect them to reach general availability within the next few months, possibly by the time you're reading this. Microsoft typically takes 4-8 weeks to move features from Canary through all the testing channels to public release.
If you're curious about using these features before the public release, you can join the Windows Insider program. Keep in mind that Insider builds are less stable and will occasionally have bugs or incomplete features. But if you want early access, it's your path forward.
The Bigger Picture: Why Microsoft Is Doing This Now
Step back for a moment. Why is Microsoft investing in these specific features right now?
The answer connects to several larger trends in tech.
First, Windows 11 needed differentiation. The operating system had a rocky launch. Performance was questionable. The new design felt unfinished. Users questioned whether upgrading from Windows 10 was worth it. These early adoption rates reflected the uncertainty.
Copilot Plus and its exclusive features are Microsoft's answer to that problem. If you want the latest AI capabilities, you need the latest Windows hardware. This creates a hardware refresh cycle and gives people concrete reasons to upgrade.
Second, AI capabilities are becoming table stakes. Every major tech company is adding AI features to everything. Apple added AI to iPhones and Macs. Google added AI to Chromebooks. Microsoft is adding AI to Windows. If a company doesn't integrate AI, it looks behind the curve.
But here's the thing: there's a gap between "we should add AI" and "what AI features actually make sense." This is where experimentation comes in. Microsoft is trying different things. Coloring book generation is an experiment. Some experiments work. Some don't. The company is testing the market to see what sticks.
Third, these are low-risk ways to test Copilot Plus value. Paint and Notepad have relatively small user bases. If the features are half-baked or nobody uses them, the impact is limited. But if they catch on, Microsoft has discovered valuable user needs that inform future development.
Finally, there's an accessibility angle. Making it easier for people to create and customize content, even something as simple as coloring pages, is genuinely valuable. Parents want quality coloring pages. Teachers want customizable educational materials. Rather than requiring Adobe software or paying for design services, they can generate what they need for free in Paint.
This is the core value proposition: democratizing capabilities that previously required specialized skills or expensive software.
Paint's AI Future: What Comes Next?
The coloring book feature is just the beginning. Microsoft has signaled plans for more Paint AI features.
Likely candidates based on current AI capabilities include image inpainting (removing unwanted elements from images and having the AI fill in the background), style transfer (applying the style of one image to another), and AI-powered upscaling (enlarging images intelligently while maintaining detail).
All of these features exist in other applications. Adobe's Firefly can do all three. Photoshop includes these as standard features. The question isn't whether Paint can do this technically. It's whether Microsoft will invest in adding these features.
Historically, Microsoft has been cautious about investing heavily in Paint. The application is decades old. The core user base is relatively small. Investing significant resources in a major redesign or feature expansion hasn't been a priority.
But AI changes the math. These features are becoming cheaper to implement as AI models improve and become more efficient. What previously might have required a dedicated team might now be feasible with smaller engineering efforts.
Expect Paint to gradually accumulate more AI capabilities over the next 1-2 years. These won't revolutionize the app. They won't make Paint competitive with professional creative software. But they'll make it increasingly useful for casual users, educational settings, and specific use cases like coloring book generation.
Elementary school teachers and parents of young children are the primary beneficiaries of AI-generated coloring pages, with estimated benefits of 30% and 25% respectively. Estimated data.
The Ethical Questions: AI Content Generation at Scale
Generating content with AI raises some legitimate ethical questions worth discussing.
First, there's the training data question. What data did Microsoft's AI models train on? Were proper licenses obtained? Did the company get permission from artists whose work was used in training? These questions matter because they affect whether the feature is ethically sound.
Second, there's the market impact question. If Paint can generate quality coloring book designs instantly, what happens to people who make their living creating coloring books? Some freelance designers and small publishers specifically create coloring books for Amazon and other platforms. AI generation could disrupt that market.
That's not necessarily an argument against the feature. Technology always disrupts some markets while creating others. But it's worth acknowledging the impact.
Third, there's a quality and accuracy question. The designs aren't always accurate to the requested specification. A cat on a donut might not actually show a cat on a donut. For casual use, this is fine. But if someone is using these designs commercially or for important purposes, accuracy matters.
Microsoft addresses some of these concerns by restricting the feature to Copilot Plus PCs (limiting availability), making it clear the output is AI-generated (no deception), and not positioning it as a professional tool (managing expectations).
But these are ongoing conversations in AI development. As these tools become more capable, the ethical implications become more significant.
Comparison with Competing Tools
Paint's coloring book feature doesn't exist in a vacuum. Other tools offer similar or better functionality.
Adobe Firefly built directly into Photoshop can generate images from text descriptions far more sophisticated than Paint's designs. You can then edit those images extensively. But Photoshop costs money ($20-55/month depending on subscription).
Canva offers AI image generation and has massive template libraries specifically including coloring books. You can customize them extensively. Canva is web-based, works on any device, and has a generous free tier. For casual users, Canva is probably better.
Midjourney generates images from text descriptions with artistic control and quality that exceeds Paint's output. But it requires Discord, costs money (starting at $10/month), and requires learning a specialized interface.
DALL-E 3 (through Chat GPT or Bing) can generate images from descriptions but requires credits or a subscription. It's more powerful but less integrated into daily creative workflows.
Where Paint's coloring book feature wins is simplicity and integration. It's built into software millions of people already have. There's no subscription. No learning curve. You describe what you want, and you get templates.
Where it loses is on sophistication and final output quality. The designs are simpler. The control is more limited. You can't modify the AI results the way you can in professional software.
This positioning makes sense. Paint is for casual users and educators, not professionals. The feature serves that market well.
Integration with Windows 11 Ecosystem
These Paint and Notepad updates don't exist in isolation. They're part of a larger push to integrate AI throughout Windows 11.
Microsoft has also added Copilot directly to Windows 11, allowing you to invoke AI assistance from anywhere. Windows Terminal got GitHub Copilot support. Microsoft 365 applications are packed with Copilot features. The company is building AI as a foundational capability across the entire platform.
The Paint coloring book feature fits into this strategy. It's another tool in the AI toolkit. It's another reason to use Windows 11 and upgrade hardware. It's another data point showing that Microsoft is serious about making AI central to its platforms.
For users, this means increasingly easy access to AI capabilities without needing specialized software or cloud services. For Microsoft, it means deeper integration, stickiness, and differentiation from competitors like Apple (macOS/iOS) and Google (Chrome/Android).
Over time, we'll see more of these small AI features embedded in native Windows applications. Some will be useful. Some will be gimmicky. The signal matters more than any individual feature: Microsoft is investing in AI-powered tooling throughout its operating system.
Copilot Plus PCs are distinguished by their ability to handle AI workloads locally, offering faster processing speeds and unique features like coloring book generation. Estimated data.
Accessibility Implications: Making Content Creation Easier
One angle that doesn't get discussed enough is accessibility.
Paint's coloring book feature makes it easier for people with certain disabilities to create and customize content. A teacher who has difficulty drawing can now generate illustrations for educational materials. A parent with arthritis can generate coloring pages rather than hand-drawing them. Someone with dysgraphia can use Notepad's AI writing assistance to generate text that they then edit rather than writing from scratch.
None of these are revolutionary accessibility features. But they're meaningful quality-of-life improvements that cost nothing for the user.
The same applies to Notepad's streaming text generation. For people with cognitive disabilities or attention challenges, seeing text appear in real-time might be easier to follow than waiting for a full response to appear instantly.
These features aren't designed specifically with accessibility in mind. But they have accessibility benefits. As Microsoft continues adding AI features, intentionally designing for accessibility rather than treating it as an afterthought would be valuable.
The Version Numbers: What Matters in Updates
If you're following Windows software closely, you might notice the specific version numbers mentioned: Paint 11.2512.191.0 and Notepad 11.2512.10.0.
These version numbers tell a story.
The "11" indicates these are Windows 11 versions. The "2512" is a date code (year 25, month 12 = December 2025, or more likely January 2025 given the rollout timing). The subsequent numbers track specific updates and patches.
Version numbers matter for several reasons. They help users understand whether they have the latest features. They allow tech support to troubleshoot more effectively. They're part of the underlying infrastructure that manages updates.
But they're also a reminder of Windows' complexity. Between the Insider channels, version numbers, and feature rollout schedules, keeping track of what's available where requires attention.
For most users, these details don't matter. You'll get the update when it reaches your device. But for people managing Windows deployments across organizations or who want features immediately, understanding these version numbers and rollout channels is essential.
Real-World Use Cases: Who Benefits Most?
Let's get specific about who actually benefits from these features and how.
Elementary school teachers. They need coloring pages for classroom activities, quiet time activities, and art education. Currently, they either draw pages themselves (time-consuming), buy pre-made books (limited customization), or find images online (copyright concerns). Paint's feature lets them generate customized pages in seconds. A teacher can create pages featuring their classroom's favorite characters, curriculum topics, or current learning units.
Parents of young children. Sick kids. Rainy days. Long car trips. Parents often need coloring pages quickly. Rather than printing from Google Images or buying books, they can generate exactly what their kid is currently interested in in Paint.
Novelty sellers. Some sellers on Etsy and Amazon specifically sell coloring books. Someone might create a coloring book featuring dogs, or castles, or mandalas, and sell them as PDFs. Paint's feature makes creation faster, though it doesn't eliminate the need for some customization and quality control.
Occupational therapists and special education specialists. These professionals often create customized educational and therapeutic materials. AI-generated coloring pages could be personalized to specific learning goals, developmental levels, or individual student interests.
Marketing and event planners. Sometimes companies want branded coloring books for events, children's programs, or marketing materials. Paint's feature could generate base designs that are then customized further.
For Notepad's AI features, the benefits are broader. Anyone writing anything benefits from writing assistance. Students writing essays. Professionals writing reports. Content creators writing social media posts. Researchers writing papers.
The streaming feature specifically benefits people who work at high pace. Developers, journalists, content creators. People who need generated text quickly and want to iterate rather than wait for perfect responses.
The 'Summarize' feature is rated highest for usefulness, followed by 'Write' and 'Rewrite'. Estimated data based on typical user feedback.
Privacy and Data Handling: Where Does Your Input Go?
When you use these features, a reasonable question is: what happens to your input?
For features running on Copilot Plus PCs using the local NPU, processing happens on your device. Your data doesn't leave your computer. This is a privacy advantage. What you write in Notepad or generate in Paint stays on your device.
However, for features that require cloud AI (which isn't the case for the current Paint and Notepad updates, but might be for future features), data does get sent to Microsoft servers. The company's privacy policy covers how they handle that data, but the basic rule is: avoid processing sensitive information through cloud-based AI features unless you've reviewed and accepted the privacy implications.
Microsoft's general approach with Copilot features is that content you generate locally stays local. Content processed in the cloud gets logged by Microsoft as described in their privacy documentation. For most use cases, this is fine. For sensitive information, local processing is preferable.
This distinction between local and cloud processing is becoming increasingly important as AI features spread. Users should understand where their data is being processed and what that means for privacy.
Performance Impact: Do These Features Slow Down Your System?
Adding AI features to existing applications raises a practical question: does this bloat software and slow down your system?
For Paint and Notepad, the answer is mostly no. These are lightweight applications that haven't dramatically increased in size. The AI features are optional. They don't run unless you explicitly use them.
For coloring book generation, the processing happens on the Copilot Plus NPU, not the main CPU. This means it doesn't steal resources from other tasks. In theory, you can generate coloring books while doing other work without noticing a slowdown.
For Notepad's AI features, the streaming text generation happens efficiently. The app doesn't freeze or become unresponsive.
The broader concern about bloat is valid. Windows has gotten more feature-rich and more resource-intensive over decades. But individual features like these don't significantly contribute to that problem. If performance is a concern, it's more about cumulative effects across the entire system rather than any single feature.
For users on older hardware or systems with limited resources, these features won't be available anyway. Copilot Plus features require newer processors. Older devices simply don't have the hardware.
Security Considerations: Is AI-Generated Content Safe?
When you generate content with AI, especially images, there are security considerations.
First, there's the question of malware. Could malicious actors embed malware in AI-generated images? Technically, it's possible but extremely unlikely with Paint's feature. Microsoft's implementation is designed to prevent this, but it's theoretically possible with other tools or implementations.
Second, there's prompt injection. Could someone craft a prompt that tricks the AI into doing something unintended? Again, technically possible but unlikely with Paint's relatively constrained implementation.
Third, there's the question of AI-generated content being used for misinformation. Could someone use AI-generated images to spread false information? Absolutely. This is a real concern as these tools become more capable. Watermarking AI-generated content and detecting AI-generated images are areas where significant work is happening.
For Paint's coloring book feature, most of these concerns are minimal. The intended use case is straightforward. The feature is limited in scope. But as AI capabilities expand, security and misuse become increasingly important considerations.
Future Predictions: Where Paint and Notepad Head Next
Based on current trajectory and industry trends, here's what we can reasonably predict for Paint and Notepad in the next year or two.
Paint's future likely includes:
More sophisticated image generation with greater control and style options. Removing elements from images and having AI fill the background intelligently. Image upscaling that enhances resolution while maintaining detail. Color palette suggestions based on AI analysis of images. Automatic background removal. Style transfer for applying artistic styles to photos.
These features exist in professional software and other AI tools. Bringing them to Paint gradually makes sense for Microsoft's strategy.
Notepad's future likely includes:
More sophisticated AI-powered text features: tone adjustment (formal to casual), language translation, grammar checking more advanced than current implementations, outline generation for longer documents, and possibly even integration with web search for fact-checking.
Markdown support will probably expand further with tables, footnotes, and other advanced syntax. Integration with OneDrive for cloud saving and synchronization will likely improve.
Both applications will probably see Copilot integration deepen, allowing you to access AI assistance from context menus and keyboard shortcuts rather than through dedicated buttons.
The broader pattern is clear: Microsoft is slowly but steadily turning these lightweight utilities into AI-enhanced productivity tools. They won't become heavy or complicated. They'll remain simple. But they'll gain capabilities that make them more useful for more users.
The Verdict: Should You Care?
Here's my honest assessment.
If you're a parent or teacher looking for customizable coloring pages, Paint's new feature is genuinely useful. It solves a real problem. You should try it when it reaches your device.
If you're a writer or someone who uses Notepad, the AI text assistance is worth experimenting with. You'll probably find specific tasks where it saves you time.
If you're a professional creative, these features don't change your workflow. You're already using professional tools that do more sophisticated versions of this.
If you don't use Paint or Notepad, these updates don't affect you. Nothing here should make you suddenly start using these applications if you weren't already.
The broader significance of these updates is what they signal about Microsoft's strategy: AI is becoming embedded throughout Windows. These features are experiments in what works and what doesn't. Some will expand. Some will be discontinued. But the trajectory is clear.
For average users, that means incremental improvements in tools you already use. For tech enthusiasts, it's a signal of where the industry is heading. For creatives and knowledge workers, it's another reminder that AI capabilities are becoming standard features rather than specialized tools.
Neither Paint nor Notepad will ever compete with professional creative or writing software. But for casual, everyday use, these updates make them noticeably more useful than they were before.
FAQ
What exactly is the AI coloring book feature in Microsoft Paint?
The coloring book feature lets you generate blank coloring templates by describing what you want in text. You input a description like "a cute cat on a donut," the AI generates four design variations, you select one, and it appears in your Paint canvas ready for coloring. The feature works by leveraging generative AI running on Copilot Plus PC hardware, creating line drawings suitable for traditional or digital coloring.
Do I need special hardware to use the Paint coloring book feature?
Yes, you need a Copilot Plus PC with an NPU (Neural Processing Unit). These processors are specifically designed for running AI workloads locally on your device. Standard Windows 11 PCs don't have this hardware, so the feature isn't available on them. The hardware limitation is intentional—Microsoft uses exclusive features to differentiate Copilot Plus devices from standard PCs.
How does Notepad's streaming text generation work differently from regular AI text generation?
Streaming means the AI-generated text appears in real-time as it's being generated, rather than waiting for the complete response to finish before seeing anything. This makes the feature feel faster and more interactive, even if the actual generation time is the same. For Notepad users accustomed to quick, lightweight interactions, streaming makes AI assistance feel less like waiting and more like collaborating with a real-time assistant.
What are the three AI text features in Notepad's update?
The three features are Write (generating new text from descriptions), Rewrite (reimagining existing text with specific tones or styles), and Summarize (condensing longer text into key points). Each feature includes streaming, so you see results appear in real-time as they're generated. These features are cloud-based for now, though they work seamlessly within the Notepad interface.
How do I get access to these features if they're not on my device yet?
Join the Windows Insider program to access these features in Canary or Dev channels before they reach general release. Windows Insiders get early access to new features in exchange for testing them and reporting bugs. Be aware that Insider builds are less stable than regular Windows releases and occasionally have bugs. Use Insider builds on secondary devices if possible, not your primary productivity machine.
Is the Paint coloring book feature practical for professional coloring book creation?
Not really. The feature is designed for generating quick, customizable coloring pages for personal, educational, or casual use. Professional coloring book creators need more control, consistency, and sophistication than this tool provides. For professional work, tools like Adobe Firefly, Procreate, or specialized illustration software are better choices. Paint's feature is best for parents, teachers, and casual enthusiasts.
Can I edit or customize the AI-generated coloring pages after they're created?
Yes. Once the coloring template is added to your Paint canvas, you can edit it using all of Paint's standard tools. You can adjust lines, add elements, remove elements, refine the design, or make any other changes you want. This makes the AI output a starting point rather than a finished product.
What about privacy when I use these AI features?
For Paint's coloring book feature running locally on your Copilot Plus PC, your input stays on your device. For Notepad's cloud-based AI features, your text does get sent to Microsoft servers for processing. Review Microsoft's privacy policy to understand how they handle your data. For sensitive information, stick with local processing options or avoid cloud-based AI features altogether.
Are these features free or do they cost extra?
These features are included with Windows 11. There's no additional cost beyond your Windows license. However, coloring book generation requires a Copilot Plus PC, which costs more than standard Windows computers. So while the features themselves are free, accessing the hardware they require involves higher upfront hardware costs.
When will these features be available to all Windows 11 users?
The features are rolling out through Windows Insider channels first and should reach general availability within a few months of their initial preview. Microsoft typically takes 4-8 weeks to move features from testing channels to public release. Check Windows Update to see if they've reached your device, or join the Insider program for earlier access.
How do Paint's new features compare to other tools like Canva or Adobe Firefly?
Canva offers more sophisticated templates and broader design capabilities, though it requires web access and has a free tier with limitations. Adobe Firefly provides more advanced image generation but requires a Photoshop subscription. Paint's advantage is simplicity and integration—it's built into Windows with no subscription needed. The tradeoff is less sophisticated output and fewer customization options compared to professional tools.
Can the AI-generated designs be used commercially?
That depends on Microsoft's terms of service and licensing for this feature. Generally, if you generate content in Paint, you own that content and can use it as you see fit, including commercially. However, verify the specific licensing terms in Microsoft's documentation. For commercial use at scale, consulting the terms explicitly is important.
What happens if I'm not satisfied with the AI-generated coloring book designs?
You can request different designs by regenerating the four options. The AI generates new variations each time you use the feature. If none of the options work, you can also edit what's generated using Paint's tools or describe the request differently and try again. The AI doesn't learn from your feedback on individual designs, so it doesn't improve over time with use—each generation is independent.
Related Updates and Further Reading
Microsoft's approach to integrating AI throughout Windows continues to evolve. The Paint coloring book feature and Notepad updates are part of a broader initiative to make Copilot Plus PCs more valuable and to embed AI capabilities throughout the operating system.
Stay tuned for more Windows AI features rolling out in the coming months. The company has signaled plans for additional Paint and Notepad improvements, as well as deeper Copilot integration throughout other native Windows applications.
For developers and advanced users interested in testing these features immediately, the Windows Insider program provides early access. For everyone else, the features will reach your device as part of regular Windows Updates over the next several months.
Key Takeaways
- Microsoft Paint now generates AI coloring book templates from text descriptions on Copilot Plus PCs
- Notepad gained streaming AI text generation for Write, Rewrite, and Summarize features
- Both apps received updates rolling out through Windows Insider channels first, reaching general availability in months
- Features require Copilot Plus hardware with NPU processors for local AI processing without cloud dependency
- These updates signal Microsoft's strategy to differentiate Copilot Plus devices and embed AI throughout Windows
