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Microsoft Enhances AI Capabilities In Windows 11 Update
The update isn’t a game changer, but is useful for Copilot fans.
After introducing Copilot Pro at the beginning of the year, Microsoft has added a series of enhancements to bolster its AI assistant’s functionality in Windows 11. A notable new addition is the integration of plugins, a feature previously exclusive to the web version of Copilot.
Users can now seamlessly connect Copilot with various services like OpenTable and Instacart, allowing them to book restaurant reservations and do grocery shopping directly within the chat interface. Additional plugins from Kayak, Klarna, and Shopify are slated for release in the coming month, underscoring Microsoft’s aim to optimize usability within the Copilot environment.
In addition, Microsoft is streamlining access to system settings by enabling users to perform tasks like toggling battery saver mode, and managing hardware profiles directly from inside of the AI chat interface. Copilot can also execute commands to activate accessibility features such as Live Captions, Narrator, and Screen Magnifier, as well as display available Wi-Fi networks. This enhanced integration should improve the user experience by eliminating the need to navigate through the Settings app.
Furthermore, Microsoft is enhancing AI capabilities in select Windows 11 apps such as Photos and Clipchamp. Photos now features a Generative Erase function for removing unwanted elements from images, while Clipchamp is set to introduce a Silence Removal AI tool for editing videos.
Also Read: Getting Started With Google Gemini: A Beginner’s Guide
These Copilot and AI enhancements will be gradually rolled out to users with Windows 11 versions 22H2 and 23H2. To access these updates, Microsoft advises users to enable the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” option. Most features are expected to be accessible with the optional March 2024 non-security preview update.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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