Written by Max A. Cherny
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft said on Monday it will introduce a new class of personal computers capable of handling more artificial intelligence tasks without the need for cloud data centers.
At the event at its campus in Redmond, Washington, CEO Satya Nadella introduced what he called “Copilot+” PCs, saying Microsoft (NASDAQ:) as well as a host of partners like Dell Technologies (NYSE:) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) 🙂 and Intel (NASDAQ:) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) will help build it.
Microsoft showed off a feature called “Recall,” which will help users find files and other data they've viewed on their computer, even if it's a tab open in a web browser. The company also showed that its Copilot voice assistant acts as a real-time virtual coach for a user playing the video game “Minecraft.”
Youssef Mahdi, who heads Microsoft's consumer marketing, said the company expects to purchase 50 million personal computers powered by artificial intelligence over the next year. At the press event, he said that faster AI assistants that work directly on your PC will be “the most compelling reason to upgrade your PC for a long time.”
Microsoft executives also said that GPT-4o, the latest technology from OpenAI, will be available “soon” as part of Microsoft Copilot.
Analysts expect Microsoft to introduce a new generation of Surface Pro tablets and Surface Laptops that will feature Qualcomm chipsets based on this arm Architecture Holdings (NASDAQ:).
After Intel processors dominated the PC market for decades, Qualcomm and other manufacturers of lower-power Arm components have tried to compete in the Windows PC market.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon
Microsoft held the product event a day before the start of its annual developers conference.
Microsoft aims to extend its early advantage in the race to produce AI tools that consumers are willing to pay for. Its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI has allowed it to get ahead of Alphabet (NASDAQ:), as other big tech companies race to dominate this emerging field.
Last week, OpenAI and Google's Alphabet demonstrated competing AI technologies that can respond via real-time voice and can be interrupted, both hallmarks of real-life voice conversations that AI voice assistants have found challenging. Google also announced that it will be rolling out several generative AI features to its lucrative search engine.
The PC industry has come under increasing pressure from Apple (NASDAQ:) since the company launched its own custom chips based on designs from Arm and ditched Intel processors. Apple-designed processors have given Mac computers superior battery life and faster performance than competitors' chips that use more power.
Microsoft appointed Qualcomm to lead the effort to port Windows to Arm chip designs in 2016. Qualcomm has exclusivity on Microsoft Windows devices that expire this year. Reuters previously reported that other chip designers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:) are making efforts to make their own Arm-based PC chips.