Windows 11 feature built in a flash by AI is impressive — but worrying

Windows 11 just got a revamped internet speed test in preview
This feature was shuttled swiftly through development using agentic AI in combination with human oversight
Microsoft boasts that this is about: "Getting from idea to customer value faster. Without AI slop." Others are more cynical, though
Windows 11 just got a useful change in preview, with its built-in internet speed test being revamped , and the new version was produced using AI (in conjunction with human oversight, I should add). Windows Latest spotted that Marcus Ash, Microsoft’s VP of Windows Design and Research, posted on X to explain that the "team moved pretty fast on this one", adding that following feedback asking for the speed test to be improved , "within a day, Diego had a working prototype." (Diego Baca is VP of Design for Windows). Ash tells us: "From there, our connectivity team worked with partners to bring the experience into Windows. The design and build work was driven by an agentic AI workflow, with a person guiding the process in their spare time." The Microsoft exec further explains that this is where he sees "a lot of potential in AI" and using agentic workflows, in terms of "Getting from idea to customer value faster. Without AI slop. That is the way." Analysis: AI, oversight, bugs, and jobs

(Image credit: Microsoft) Of course, this is a controversial topic. Mention AI being involved in the coding of Windows 11 and some tempers will flare online, even though we know this is happening anyway. Microsoft has made no secret of that fact . Indeed, among the AI hate and flames on social media, a lot of people are point out that these days pretty much all software is being developed in conjunction with Large Language Models (LLM agents) — even Linux . As one Redditor makes clear : "Newsflash — every single piece of software you use, except for open source projects that are making a statement, you should expect to have AI written code in it. It is pervasive, it is everywhere." The key aspect here is exactly how the AI agent in question is employed. It’s one thing for such an agent to be given a task to write a piece of code for a certain feature, and then just to slap that into your software or operating system as it is (or maybe after a cursory glance through the work)…