You Won’t Believe What’s Happening to the Windows 11 Cursor!

Apr. 23, 2024

Earlier, we reported that Windows 11’s much-anticipated featureAI Explorer might be exclusiveto Snapdragon X series PCs, thanks to a code snippet found by X user Albacore (@thebookisclosed). And now the X user hasfoundsomeDLLs related to the AI Explorer(AIX) feature which reveals new glyphs and most interestingly, some uniquely designed cursors for Windows 11.

By swapping the DLLs, the user was able to showcase the new cursor. It’s anaccented cursor, in a bottle-shaped designwhich is quite distinct from traditional cursors that we have seen so far. The text selection cursor is also designed differently. The new cursor could be linked to AI Explorer’s screen understanding feature where you select texts on your screen for further AI processing.

Apart from that, the X user alsodiscoveredsome interestingglyphs and iconsrelated to the AI Explorer feature. There is a Screen Capture feature linked to AIX and its icon is illustrated below.

Moreover, the AIX package throws light on many features including Sidebar Island, Shoulder Tap,Screen Understanding, Intent Engine, Discovery Overlay, etc. AnotherX user(@PhantomofEarth) has found some AI Explorer-related strings such as screen understanding, AI Host, and more.

It also shows that AI models might run on the device using the on-device NPU. Internal strings related to AIX read: “Screen understanding is paused.Models are not available and need to be downloaded.” Since Snapdragon X Elite comes with a powerful NPU, the chances of running an AI model locally are likely high.

All in all, it’s going to be an exciting time for Windows users as Microsoft is ready to unveil the next version of Windows 11 with the24H2 update. In addition to that, it will also announce new Surface devices with the Snapdragon X Elite chipset onMay 20. Not to forget, Qualcomm is poised to announce theSnapdragon X serieson April 24th.

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.