Audio, video and images have become an integral part of our daily lives, qualifying multimedia in itself as a must to keep up with. This content is edited and played back on our computers all the time. To meet this recognised need, Microsoft wants to make these tasks easier within its Windows operating system. And one of the key apps to this effort is the pre-installed Photos app that just keeps getting better.
Two powerful, artificial intelligence powered, new features are introduced with the latest update. And now, Windows Photos is using AI in Microsoft. Two new things Insider users on Windows 11 can now give a try are Super Resolution and OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
Super Resolution: AI-Enhanced Image Scaling
This Super Resolution feature is using AI to dramatically enhance image quality though the Cordially+ feature is currently only available to devices with Snapdragon processors. This means users can take their images up to 8 times their original size without loss in detail, so is great for upscaling low resolution photos. Super Resolution will speed up and simplify the process whether you are preparing imagery for large format printing or exhibitions.
Super Resolution also enables cropping images at the same resolution. This feature utilises the neural processing unit on your PC — everything takes place locally without any need for an internet connection. It’s right there in the Windows Photo Editor so you can get some image quality in just a few clicks.
AI-Powered OCR: Extract Text from Photos
On top of that, the update improves image resolution as well as adds an OCR tool. This feature uses AI to find text in photos and copy it from there to the clipboard with ease. For productivity tasks where getting information from images is important, managing that information is a critical aspect of productivity: getting information from documents, receipts, or even notes.
Once you’ve got the text detected (which is to say, once it converted to text), you can copy specific sections of it and so paste it into any other app you want. In the Photos app interface it takes just a click to use the smart OCR feature, which supports more than 160 languages.
Available for Windows 10, 11
However, these exciting new tools are being tested with Insider users, and soon will be available to everyone on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft Photos is getting smarter with AI boosts like Super Resolution and OCR, making it a more powerful everyday OS users tool for kicking up the resolution of an image or even extracting pertinent information from an image, and all with just a few clicks.
A new update is a reminder of Microsoft’s commitment to continuously using AI to increase productivity and creativity on its platforms. Photos has new AI tools that will streamline your workflow whether you want to up your photos or have more efficient management of your text.