Microsoft's Copilot+ PCs Debut New AI Features

Published 07 June 2024

Author
Adam Speight
2 min read

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are set to become a larger part of our everyday lives. Microsoft is catalysing this change by launching Copilot+ PCs, new Windows PCs designed for AI.

  • The Power of AI: The first wave of Copilot+ PCs is powered by American semiconductor company Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chips. They have a neural processing unit capable of 40+ trillion operations per second, enabling industry-first AI features. Along with Microsoft’s Surface devices, brands like Asus, Acer, HP, Lenovo, Dell and Samsung have all announced Copilot+ PCs.

  • Augmenting User Memory: Recall is a new feature helping users revisit apps, websites, files, and more, such as trying to find a picture of a leather jacket you previously stumbled upon on the web. Users can type a cue into Recall’s search box and then scroll back through a timeline of related screenshots. Once they find what they’re after, Recall reproduces the window from that moment, allowing them to continue where they left off. Privacy and security are key issues for the future of AI. Microsoft aims to address this by storing the screenshots locally on the PCs but concerns remain.

  • Real-Time Creative Assistance: Cocreator works alongside the user in Microsoft Paint, where they can give it a prompt, such as “an adorable turtle swimming under the ocean, fish, coral reefs, ultra-detailed”, before starting to draw the image themselves. The AI will then improve on the image the user has created.

  • Enhanced Translation: Copilot+ PCs provide real-time English-language Live Captions across any app. This feature allows the translation of audio from more than 40 languages into English and will work both on- and offline.