Microsoft wants to bring generative AI to the forefront of Windows and the PCs that run it.
In a keynote ahead of this week's annual Build developer conference, the company announced a new lineup of Windows machines it calls Copilot+ PCs, as well as leveraging AI such as Recall to help users find apps, files, and other content they've viewed. announced the generation function. In the past. Copilot, Microsoft's brand of generative AI, will soon be more deeply integrated into the Windows 11 experience. And new Microsoft Surface devices are also coming.
We've compiled all the major announcements here.
Copilot+ PC
Image credit: Microsoft
Copilot+ PC is the flagship Windows hardware that represents Microsoft's AI-first vision. All include a specialized chip called an NPU to power AI experiences such as Recall. It also ships with a minimum of 16 GB of RAM and paired with SSD storage.
The first Copilot+ PCs are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips, which Microsoft claims will deliver up to 15 hours of web browsing and 20 hours of video battery life. Chipmakers Intel and AMD are also partnering with various manufacturers, including Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung, to develop processors for Copilot+ devices.
Copilot+ PC prices start at $999, and some are available for pre-order now.
Surface Pro and Surface Laptop
Microsoft's newly announced Surface devices, Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, focus on performance and battery.
Image credit: Microsoft
The latest Surface Laptops with 13.8-inch or 15-inch displays have been redesigned with “modern lines” and thinner screen bezels. The company says it lasts up to 22 hours on a single charge and is up to 86% faster than the Surface Laptop 5. It also supports Wi-Fi 7 and has a haptic feedback touchpad.
Image credit: Microsoft
About the new Surface Pro, Microsoft says it's up to 90% faster than the previous generation Surface Pro (Surface Pro 9) and features a new OLED with an HDR display, Wi-Fi 7 (and optional 5G). states. Upgraded ultra-wide-angle front camera. Additionally, the removable keyboard is reinforced with additional carbon fiber and features haptic feedback.
recollection
Windows 11's upcoming Recall feature will allow users to “remember” apps and content they accessed on their PC weeks or months ago. For example, it can help you find your girlfriend's Discord chat where she was discussing the clothes she was considering buying. Users can use her Recall timeline to “scroll back” to see what they've been working on recently, or drill down into files such as PowerPoint presentations for information that may be relevant to their search. You can also display it.
Microsoft says Recall can create associations between things like colors and images, allowing users to search for virtually anything in natural language on their PCs (not unlike technology from startup Rewind). And the company claims that all user data associated with Recall is stored privately on the device and is not used to train AI models. It's important.
Here are more details from Microsoft: “Your snapshots are yours. They remain locally on your PC. From the system tray icon in the taskbar, you can delete individual snapshots, adjust time ranges and delete them in settings, You can pause it at any time. You can also filter apps and websites from being saved.
Image editing and live translation
Windows has more AI than ever before, and some of it is exclusive to the new Copilot+ PCs.
A new feature called Super Resolution can automatically upscale and restore old photos. Copilot can also now analyze images and provide users with creative composition ideas. A feature called Cocreator allows users to generate images and even ask the AI model to modify or restyle the image according to what it draws.
Image credit: Microsoft
Live Captioning with Live Translation also translates audio passing through your PC from YouTube or local files into the language of your choice. Live Translate will initially support around 40 languages, including English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Russian.
Windows CoPilot Runtime
Powering features like recall and super-resolution is the Windows Copilot runtime, a collection of about 40 generative AI models that make up what Microsoft calls a “new layer” of Windows. The Windows Copilot runtime works with Semantic Index, a vector-based system local to each individual Copilot+ PC, to enable generated AI-powered apps, including third-party apps, to run without necessarily requiring an internet connection.
Microsoft has announced that CapCut, the popular video editor from TikTok owner ByteDance, will use Windows Copilot Runtime to accelerate its AI capabilities.