Microsoft is testing Edge for Android with 'Ask Copilot' image recognition and AI-generated variations of your photos

Copilot on Microsoft Edge for Android is about to get better with enhanced support for image generation and detailing.

What you need to know

• Microsoft is testing a new feature dubbed Mobile Copilot Chat with Images on Edge for Android.
• The feature is designed to allow users to ask the chatbot anything regarding a selected image on a webpage.
• It can also generate an AI version of the selected image within Copilot's chat window. 

Microsoft's Chromium-based browser, Edge, has undergone several changes over the past few years. With the emergence of AI and Microsoft's multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI's technology, the company aims to enhance the user experience of its mobile browser.

Despite Microsoft's doubled-down efforts to ship new features, updates, and a fully-fledged AI-powered assistant to Microsoft Edge, users are seemingly more inclined toward Google Chrome. In the past, users have openly expressed their reluctance to use Microsoft Edge, predominantly because of its bloatedness. 

But as it happens, the tech giant is looking to turn things around. According to a spot by MSPowerUser, Microsoft Edge on Android recently received an optional update that further enhances Copilot's capabilities. 

The new update builds on Copilot's existing capabilities with new features, including the ability to "Ask Copilot" about an image and request the chatbot to "Generate AI images." These options should be available under the "Mobile Copilot Chat with Images" feature. 

Per our testing and analysis, we could not access the experiment despite running on Android's latest version of Microsoft Edge. As is the case with most features in the testing phase, there's a possibility that the feature might not reach a full release, or if it does, it'll ship several tweaks and changes. Microsoft often buries such experiments under Edge flags as they could potentially negatively impact your security and privacy.

That said, you can try to enable the feature on your browser by following the highlighted steps below:

1. Ensure your running on the latest version of Microsoft Edge on your Android device.
2. Navigate to edge://flags, and search for Mobile Copilot.
3. The Mobile Copilot Chat with images flag will pop-up, tap on it and select the option to have it enabled.
4. Restart the browser on your phone.

Voila! You should be able to access the Ask Copilot or Generate AI images options directly from the context menu on your browser. To test this, head to a webpage with an image and tap on it. The context menu will pop up with the new AI-powered options. 

The image will pop up in your Copilot chat after selecting either of the new options. From this point, you can ask the chatbot anything about the image or even request it to generate an AI version of the selected photo. 

Microsoft on the AI tip

(Image credit: Windows Central)

Since Microsoft partnered with OpenAI, the company has integrated AI across most of its products and services, which now ship with a Copilot system. As you might know, Windows 11 already ships with an AI-powered assistant dubbed Windows Copilot. The same applies to Microsoft Edge across its desktop and mobile clients. And now, the company is further enhancing Copilot's capabilities on the Edge browser on Android.

In case you missed it, Microsoft recently renamed its Edge browser on iOS and Android to "Microsoft Edge: AI Browser." This perfectly aligns with the company's focus on AI for Edge on mobile. 

Elsewhere, a new report by Appfigures indicated that OpenAI's ChatGPT continues to reign over Microsoft Copilot despite its recent launch on Android and iOS. The report further included that Microsoft's timely launch of the app on mobile with free access to OpenAI's latest LLM, GPT-4, and DALL-E 3 technology didn't impact ChatGPT's revenue or installations. 

Do you think Microsoft's AI push will make users transition from Google Chrome to Edge? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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