According to a recent discovery by XenoPanther, Microsoft is working on an “Intelligent Media Search” that uses AI to help users search their audio and video files by transcribing and indexing their contents using AI.
How Does It Work?
Windows will use AI to scan your media files, transcribe what’s being said, and let you search the database by words. Imagine you’ve got a ton of video files, and you’re trying to find that one part where someone says something specific. Instead of scrubbing through every video, you could just type in the word in the Windows Search, and boom, it shows up. Super handy, right?
Now, this is still in the test phase, so don’t expect to see it on your PC just yet. It’s part of an early Windows 11 Preview Build 27695. Once the feature is ready, you’ll get a heads-up after agreeing to some terms (you know, the usual stuff), and then you can search your media just as you would search for a file name or document on your PC.
Pro Tip: Not sure which Windows Insiders channel is right for you? I wrote a detailed guide just for you.
Is This the Next Step for Windows Search?
This could be a big deal because, let’s face it, Windows Search hasn’t exactly been amazing. It’s supposed to help you find anything on your computer, but many people complain that it doesn’t work as well as it should. This AI-powered search could finally give Windows Search the upgrade it needs.
Privacy Concerns and the Recall Feature
But, of course, there’s always that little voice in the back of our heads saying, “What about privacy?” Microsoft had a similar feature before called “Recall,” that would capture snapshots of your device activity and organize them into a searchable timeline for specific content. Cool idea, but people weren’t thrilled about it because of privacy concerns.
This new feature might be based on similar tech, but Microsoft seems to be taking privacy more seriously this time due to all the backlash. The plan is to keep everything on your device, no cloud stuff – just your PC doing the work. But to use this, you might need one of those newer Copilot+ PCs with an NPU. Those are expensive right now though.
Anyway, Microsoft hasn’t made any big announcements about this yet, so it’s still a bit under wraps. But if they pull it off, this could make searching through your files a whole lot easier. We will keep you updated on it here.
