Windows 11 as an Agentic OS: Hype, Risks, and Questions
Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 is becoming an ‘agentic OS’, powered by Copilot Actions, Voice and Vision. The idea is that you can simply tell your PC what to do and it will carry out tasks autonomously.
While this sounds futuristic, it may be over the top.
Does anyone know what “Agentic OS” means?
What is an agentic OS supposed to be - with this announcement regarding an OS come several questions:
- Traditionally, an operating system manages hardware, processes, and resources.
- Running autonomous agents that plan and execute tasks is application-level logic, not OS-level responsibility.
- Branding this as an OS blurs the boundaries.
- What if something goes wrong - where is the accountability?
Data Protection and Safety
Giving AI agents access to files, data and apps introduces new attack surfaces:
- Prompt injection could trick agents into leaking sensitive data or performing unintended actions.
- Data leaks when connecting to cloud services, the line between local and remote data becomes blurred.
- Loss of offline guarantees: traditional OS boundaries collapse when agents are permanently active.
Pay-As-You-Go Under the Hood?
Another concern is whether we are seeing a novel pay model baked into the agentic world that comes with the software. This could transform the operating system into a metered utility, where productivity depends not only on hardware, but also on online services and subscriptions.
Enterprise Complexity
For IT departments, the complexity increases: How do you audit agentic actions across multiple apps?
- What happens when agents interact with sensitive ERP or CRM systems?
- Who is responsible when an agent leaks data or causes harm to individuals or legal entities?