Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows and the PCs that run it.
In a keynote ahead of its annual Build developer conference this week, the company revealed a new line of Windows machines it calls Copilot+ PC, as well as AI-driven generative features like Recall, which help users find apps, files, and other content they’ve viewed. in the past. Copilot, Microsoft’s generative AI brand, will soon be much more deeply integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are on the way.
We’ve rounded up all the major announcements here.
PC Copilot+
Copilot+ PCs represent Microsoft’s vision of flagship AI-driven Windows hardware. All include dedicated chips called NPUs to power AI experiments like Recall. And they come with a minimum of 16GB of RAM, paired with SSD storage.
The first Copilot+ PCs will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips, which Microsoft says offer up to 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. Chipmakers Intel and AMD are also committed to creating processors for Copilot+ devices in partnership with a number of manufacturers, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung.
Copilot+ PCs start at $999 and some are available for pre-order today.
Surface Pro and Surface Laptop
Microsoft’s recently unveiled Surface devices, the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, focus on performance and battery.
The latest Surface Laptop – available with a 13.8- or 15-inch screen – has been redesigned with “modern lines” and thinner screen bezels. It lasts up to 22 hours on a charge and is up to 86% faster than the Surface Laptop 5, according to the company. It also supports Wi-Fi 7 and has a touchpad with haptic feedback.
As for the new Surface Pro, Microsoft claims that it is up to 90% faster than the previous generation Surface Pro (the Surface Pro 9), and that it sports a new OLED with HDR display, Wi-Fi 7 (and optional 5G) and an improved ultra-wide front camera. Additionally, its detachable keyboard – which has been reinforced with additional carbon fiber – now features haptic feedback.
Reminder
Windows 11’s upcoming Reminder feature can “remember” which apps and content a user accessed on their PC weeks or even months ago, helping them, for example, find a Discord chat where they were discussing clothes he was planning to buy. Users can use Recall’s timeline to “scroll back” to see what they’ve been working on in the recent past and explore files such as PowerPoint presentations to surface information potentially relevant to their research.
Microsoft says Recall can create associations between colors, images and more to let users search for virtually anything on their PC in natural language (much like Rewind startup technology). And the company says all user data associated with Recall remains private and on the device – and is not used to train AI models, which is important.
Here’s more from Microsoft: “Your snapshots belong to you; they stay locally on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete time ranges in Settings, or pause at any time directly from the system tray icon on your taskbar. You can also filter apps and websites so that they are never recorded.
Image editing and live translations
There is now more AI than ever in Windows and some exclusively on the new Copilot+ PCs.
A new feature called Super Resolution can restore old photos by automatically scaling them. And Copilot can now analyze images to give users ideas for creative compositions. Through a feature called Cocreator, users can generate images and also have the AI model follow what they draw to modify or restyle the image.
Elsewhere, live captions with live translations translate any audio passing through a PC – whether from YouTube or a local file – into the user’s chosen language. Live translations will initially support around 40 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian.
Windows Copilot Runtime
The Windows Copilot Runtime powers features like Recall and Super Resolution, a collection of about 40 generative AI models that make up what Microsoft describes as “a new layer” of Windows. In tandem with the Semantic Index, a local vector system on an individual Copilot+ PC, the Windows Copilot Runtime allows AI-driven generative applications, including third-party applications, to run without necessarily requiring a connection Internet.
Microsoft says CapCut, the popular video editor from TikTok owner ByteDance, will use Windows Copilot Runtime to accelerate its AI features.
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