Microsoft Explores AI-Powered Dynamic Wallpapers for Windows 11

Windows 11 may get AI-powered desktop wallpapers

Microsoft has tried similar ideas in the past, but they never materialized. Microsoft may introduce an AI-powered feature for dynamic desktop wallpapers in Windows 11, reports Windows Latest. The feature, found in preview versions under the name "Dynamic Wallpaper," doesn't work yet, but is described as a background that automatically updates based on the user's choice. This could involve selecting a theme or category, and Windows then changing the background depending on the time of day or other signals. Microsoft has previously trialled similar ideas, such as animated backgrounds and parallax effects to add depth and life to the desktop, but these have not been launched. It's not yet clear whether the new feature uses AI to modify images or just switches them automatically.

Windows 11 could get AI-powered dynamic wallpapers - I just hope Microsoft doesn't kill off this idea

Microsoft is supposedly thinking about introducing some kind of AI-powered wallpaper to Windows 11 (not for the first time, I might add). Well-known purveyor of Microsoft-related gossip, PhantomOfEarth, recently posted on X to inform us of the work which is seemingly underway to produce 'dynamic' backgrounds for Windows 11. What kind of dynamic backgrounds are planned, exactly? Well, that's not clear, and we aren't given any details as to the precise nature of this feature, except that the wallpaper will "automatically update based on your selections". This info was dug up from recent preview builds of Windows 11, and Windows Latest highlighted the above post on X, observing that it attempted to uncover toggles for the mentioned options, but couldn't. So, it looks like it's still very early days for the potential capability. We must be particularly wary here, because Microsoft has worked on dynamic (also known as 'live') wallpapers in the past, and then scrapped the idea. Indeed, the concept of AI-powered backgrounds for Windows 11 has been floating around for a long time. You may even recall that components for live wallpapers were present in Windows 11 23H2, hidden under the hood, for some time, before they were stripped out in 24H2, as Microsoft obviously thought better of the idea. Which I felt was rather a shame, as some of these concepts looked very smart (you can see one of them in the above image). What we have here is a far more nebulous rumor, hence the need for more than the usual helping of caution. That said, Microsoft has been busy trying to jam more and more AI into Windows 11, and to me, this seems like an obvious enough area to grace with AI, having it bring some extra fanciness to your backgrounds (if you want that). By which I mean not just fancy dynamic wallpapers in terms of animated elements, or parallax kind of effects - which may well be part of the plan - but also having AI perform nifty tricks such as changing the appearance of a wallpaper based on the time of day, for example. (Like the forest wallpaper in macOS Sequoia, where the lighting changes throughout the day). We're told the background will update based on 'selections' you make, so there could be various options to turn on (or off), or perhaps various background themes to select from. With AI in the mix, I'm guessing that if this is the path Microsoft is intent on travelling down with wallpapers, we may get suggested backgrounds eventually based on your habits within Windows (if you allow the AI access to that data, of course). All this remains to be seen, though, and even if this rumor is correct as of now, Microsoft may yet think better of the idea down the line, as it's done in the past. The obvious drawback with more elaborate ideas for wallpapers is the increased drain on system resources compared to static backgrounds, which will be a particular area of concern for lesser-spec PCs. On those machines, though, you can simply not use dynamic wallpapers.