Microsoft released the 0.96 update for its Advanced Paste tool within PowerToys for Windows 11, introducing on-device AI capabilities to process clipboard tasks without cloud connections.
The update enables users to route AI requests through Microsoft’s Foundry Local tool or the open-source Ollama platform. Both options execute AI models directly on the device’s neural processing unit, or NPU, allowing local computation for features like text translation and summarization. This approach eliminates the requirement to buy API credits from external services, as the processing occurs entirely on the user’s hardware.
Privacy benefits arise from this on-device processing, since all data handled by the local AI models remains confined to the user’s device and does not transmit to remote servers. Previously, Advanced Paste relied solely on OpenAI for its AI functions, but the update expands compatibility to include multiple online models such as Azure OpenAI, Gemini, and Mistral. Users can select these models for cloud-based operations when preferred.
The interface of Advanced Paste has received design enhancements in this version. It now displays the current contents of the clipboard directly within the tool, providing immediate visibility of the copied material. Additionally, a drop-down menu allows straightforward selection of the desired AI model, streamlining the workflow for applying transformations to clipboard data.
