Microsoft wants to bring generative ai to the forefront of Windows and the PCs that run it.
In a keynote speech ahead of its annual Build developer conference this week, the company unveiled a new line of Windows machines it calls Copilot+ PCs, plus ai-powered generative features like Recall, which helps users find applications, files and other content they have viewed. in the past. Copilot, Microsoft's brand of generative ai, will soon be much more integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are on the way.
We have gathered all the important announcements here.
copilot PC+
Copilot+ PCs are Microsoft's take on flagship, ai-first Windows hardware. All include dedicated chips called NPUs to power ai experiences like Recall. And they ship with at least 16GB of RAM, along with SSD storage.
The first Copilot+ PCs will feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon x Elite and Plus chips, which Microsoft says deliver up to 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. Chipmakers Intel and AMD are also committed to making processors for Copilot+ devices in partnership with a variety 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 introduced Surface devices, the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, focus on performance and battery.
The latest Surface Laptop, available with a 13.8-inch or 15-inch screen, has been redesigned with “modern lines” and slimmer screen bezels. It lasts up to 22 hours on a charge and is up to 86% faster than the Surface Laptop 5, the company claims. It also supports Wi-Fi 7 and has a haptic feedback touchpad.
As for the new Surface Pro, Microsoft says it's up to 90% faster than the previous generation Surface Pro (Surface Pro 9) and has a new OLED with HDR display, Wi-Fi 7 (and optional 5G), and a Improved ultra-wide front camera. Additionally, its detachable keyboard, reinforced with additional carbon fiber, now has haptic feedback.
Remember
Windows 11's upcoming Recover feature can “remember” 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 talking about clothes they were considering buying. Users can use Recall's timeline to “go back” and see what they were working on in the recent past and drill down into files such as PowerPoint presentations to display information potentially relevant to their searches.
Microsoft says Recall can create associations between colors, images and more to allow users to search for virtually anything on their PCs in natural language (not unlike Rewind startup technology). And the company claims that all user data associated with Recall is kept private and on the device and, importantly, is not used to train ai models.
Here it is further from Microsoft: “Your snapshots are yours; they remain locally on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete time ranges in Settings, or pause at any time right from the system tray icon on your taskbar. You can also filter apps and websites so they are never saved.”
Image editing and live translations.
There is now more ai in Windows than ever, and some of it exclusively on the new Copilot+ PCs.
A new feature called Super Resolution can restore old photos by automatically upscaling 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 ask the ai model to follow what they are drawing to change or restyle the image.
Elsewhere, Live Captions with Live Translation translates any audio passed through a PC, whether from YouTube or a local file, into the language of the user's choice. Initially, live translations will support around 40 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin and Russian.
Windows Copilot Runtime
Powering capabilities like Recall and Super Resolution is the Windows Copilot Runtime, a collection of ~40 generative ai models that make up what Microsoft describes as “a new layer” of Windows. Together with Semantic Indexing, a vector-based system local to an individual Copilot+ PC, Windows Copilot Runtime enables ai-powered generative applications, including third-party applications, to run without the necessary need for an Internet connection.
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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