Microsoft is integrating AI tools into its development workflow to address long-standing interface inconsistencies within Windows 11. Diego Baca, Vice President of Product Design, confirmed that AI agents are being utilized to accelerate the coding process for UI updates.
The company is actively migrating legacy components to the WinUI 3 framework. A recent example is the redesigned Run dialog box, which is built using C# and WinUI 3. Internal testing shows the new version achieves a median display time of 94 milliseconds, compared to 103 milliseconds for the previous iteration.
Beyond the Run dialog, Microsoft is updating various system tools, including the Photos app, property dialogs, and print management utilities. The file copy dialog has already been refactored, with plans to modernize the voice pack management and PC reset interfaces in upcoming releases.
A new search interface is currently undergoing testing with Windows Insider users. This feature allows users to execute system commands directly, such as switching to dark mode, by typing specific requests into the search bar.
