AI in 10
The most important AI story—explained in 10 minutes.
Every day, I break down the biggest AI story in just 10 minutes - what it is, why it matters, and how you can actually use it. No tech jargon, just AI made simple.
AI in 10
Microsoft just turned Windows into an ad platform
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Referenced Links:
Reddit r/Windows11 — User Screenshots and Discussion
Reddit r/technology — Community Backlash Thread
Microsoft Copilot+ PC Overview
Windows Feedback Hub
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Welcome to AI Inten. I'm Chuck Getchell, and every day I break down the biggest AI story in just 10 minutes. What it is, why it matters, and how you can actually use it. Your operating system is now selling you things and it's using AI to decide what, when, and how. I'm Chuck Getchell. This is AI Inten. What happened, why it matters, what you can do with it. Let's go. So here's the scene. You sit down at your computer, you click the start button, you know, that little Windows logo in the corner, the thing you've clicked a thousand times to open an app or find a file, and there, right in the middle of your start menu, is a little card suggesting you upgrade to Cloud Storage Sheet or try a new Microsoft subscription service or check out some third-party tool you've never heard of. You didn't ask for it, you didn't search for it, your computer just decided to show it to you. That's not a glitch, that's not a pop-up from a sketchy website. That is Microsoft's AI system making a decision about what to put in front of you, right inside the operating system you rely on every single day. This started rolling out around June 22nd and 23rd, just a couple of days ago. Users on Reddit and tech sites started posting screenshots. At first, people thought it was malware or some rogue app. But tech reporters actually tested it on their own machines and confirmed, no, this is coming directly from Microsoft. It's server-side, meaning Microsoft flipped a switch remotely and your start menu changed overnight. You didn't install anything, you didn't update anything, your computer just became a little more commercial. Now let's be clear about what this actually is. Windows has had promotional content before. The lock screen sometimes shows Microsoft ads disguised as pretty landscape photos. You've probably seen the little nudge to sign into your Microsoft account or the banner telling you to try Microsoft Edge. Those are annoying but familiar. This is different, and here's why. The Start menu is not an ad surface. It's a utility, it's infrastructure. It's the place you go to launch your work tools, access your files, shut down your computer. It's the equivalent of your kitchen counter. You expect your spatula to be there, not a brochure from a meal kit company. What Microsoft is doing now is using AI to personalize those recommendations. The system looks at your behavior, what apps you use, what files you open, what Microsoft services you have or don't have, and it generates suggestions based on that data. The word they're using is recommendations. But what people are actually seeing looks a lot more like targeted advertising. Here's the key distinction: the old recommendation system in Windows surfaced things you had done, recent files, recently used apps, things tied to your actual behavior. That's useful, that makes sense. New system surfaces things Microsoft wants you to do. Subscribe to this, try that, store your files here. It's not reflecting your activity, it's steering you toward their revenue goals. And the AI is what makes that steering so precise. It's not showing everyone the same ad, it's showing you the specific pitch most likely to get you to click. That's a meaningful shift. And it happened without an announcement. No blog post, no opt-in dialogue, no hey, we're changing how your start menu works. Just done. Which, to be fair, is peak enterprise software behavior. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. It's practically a motto at this point. Now let's connect this to your life, but because I think this matters more than it might seem at first. If you're a regular Windows user, and there are roughly a billion of you, your computer has quietly become a platform. Not just a tool you own and control, but a surface that a company is using to influence your decisions. Think about that. You paid for the computer, you paid for the software, or got it through work. And now the AI inside it is being used to run marketing experiments on you, deciding what to show you based on what it predicts you're most likely to click. For most people, the first reaction is annoyance. For less technical users, the concern runs deeper. If those cards look like helpful suggestions and they're designed to, a lot of people won't recognize them as commercial content. Grandma isn't gonna see recommended back up your photos with OneDrive for $2.99 a month and think, oh, that's a targeted ad based on my usage data. She's gonna think Windows is telling her to do something. And that blurring of helpful guidance and paid promotion is exactly where this gets ethically murky. For people who work from home or run small businesses, this has another layer. Your work machine could start nudging you towards software upgrades, licensing tiers, or third-party tools in the middle of your workday. It's the digital equivalent of having a salesperson lean over your shoulder while you're trying to get something done. And over time, if we normalize this, AI-driven commercial suggestions baked into our operating systems, we may stop questioning it. We may start treating our computers' recommendations as neutral advice, not realizing there's a revenue model behind every single one of them. Now here's where it gets bigger. Microsoft isn't alone in thinking this way. The entire tech industry has been watching AI get deployed for two things, helping users and optimizing revenue. Those two goals can coexist, but they can also be in direct conflict. When an AI system is optimized to help you, it surfaces what's genuinely useful. When it's optimized for clicks and conversions, it surfaces what gets you to spend. The interface looks the same. The intent is very different. This is the moment where the line between personalization and manipulation starts to blur. And AI makes that blur possible at a scale and precision that wasn't possible before. So what do you actually do about this? Because I don't want to leave you with just a complaint. Here's your one actionable thing for today, and it's really three quick moves. First, go look at your start menu right now, click that Windows button, look at the recommended section at the bottom of the panel. If you see tiles that look like promotions for services you don't use, things you never open, subscriptions you don't have, you may be in the test group. Second, go into your Windows settings, click on personalization, then start. There are options there to turn off suggestions and recommendations. Turn those off. While you're in settings, also head to privacy and security and look at the diagnostics and feedback section. You can dial back how much behavioral data Windows shares with Microsoft. It won't stop everything, but it reduces the data feeding the recommendations engine. Less data in, fewer targeted suggestions out. Third, use the Windows feedback hub. I know that sounds like shouting into a void, but here's the thing: Microsoft has actually reversed these kinds of moves before when the backlash was loud enough, the push to make Edge the default browser, the OneDrive nagging, the forced sign-in prompts, all of those got dialed back after enough users pushed back publicly. Your voice, combined with a few million other people's voices, actually does move the needle with these companies, especially when the press is already covering it. Send your feedback, call it what it is, be specific about what you saw. If you're brand new to all of this and want to understand how AI actually works under the hood, not just the news but the fundamentals, my AI Explained course is 30 short videos built specifically for people who are just getting started. No technical background required, just plain English, worth checking out if you want to go deeper. Now, the bigger takeaway here isn't really about Windows, it's about a decision the entire tech industry is making right now. AI is extraordinarily good at predicting human behavior. The question every company is wrestling with is do we use that to empower our users or to monetize them? The answer in most cases is going to be both. The companies that do it well will be transparent about it. They'll give users real control, they'll make the commercial intent obvious. The ones that don't will quietly erode trust, and eventually users will notice. They always do. The good news is that you have more control here than you might think. Settings exist for a reason. Feedback mechanisms exist for a reason. And your attention, where you point it, what you click, what you ignore, is the currency these systems are competing for. The moment you understand that, you stop being a passive target and start being an informed one. And that's not a small thing, that's actually the whole game. That's today's AI intent. If you want to go deeper and learn AI with a community of people just like you, join us at aihammock.com. I'll see you tomorrow, my friends.
