Iconic Microsoft Paint, Notepad Get AI Makeovers in Windows 11

Even legacy Windows apps are getting infused with AI.

This week, Microsoft said it was adding AI capabilities to two of its oldest apps: Paint and Notepad, proving AI is getting baked into just about everything.

Paint will include a generative fill feature which Microsoft said uses “just enough AI” to help creators make edits and editions to art projects with “just a few words.”

The generative fill capability will initially only be supported on Snapdragon-powered Copilot + PCs, Microsoft said.

Generative erase is another AI-powered tool in Paint. It allows users to remove unwanted images from their art projects. Generative erase is available to all Windows 11 PC users, Microsoft said.

There have also been enchantments made to Paint Cocreator, and the preview of Image Creator for Paint has been expanded to additional markets: “Microsoft 365 Personal and Family and Copilot Pro subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will also now be able to use AI credits to use Image Creator in Paint,” Microsoft said.

Notepad has been updated with generative AI functionality allowing users to rewrite text with GenAI, a feature called Notepad Rewrite.

Rewrite is available to all Windows 11 users in the U.S., France, U.K., Canada, Italy and Germany. It’s also available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family and Copilot Pro subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Notepad has also been updated with performance tweaks. According to Microsoft, Notepad’s launch time has improved between 35 percent and 55 percent.