With its new Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft wants to usher in an era in which generative AI is processed directly on the device rather than in the cloud. These PCs have special hardware (Neural Processing Units, NPUs) to run AI processes locally. The first Copilot+ laptops, developed in collaboration with companies such as AMD, Intel, Qualcomm and major OEMs, are now available for pre-order.
Microsoft is also introducing Recall, a new feature for Windows 11 on these PCs that records and makes searchable all activities on the computer. Recall creates a chronological timeline that users can use to recall previous actions, websites visited, meetings, and more.
However, this new feature also raises privacy and security concerns. Although Microsoft emphasizes that the data is encrypted and stored only locally on the device, critics compare the feature to spyware or keyloggers and fear data leakage in the event of hacking or device loss.
More news from Microsoft’s Build developer conference:
Microsoft is releasing its compact Phi-3 family of language models for developers to use on laptops, mobile devices, and wearables. The models are available in three variants with up to 14 billion parameters. Microsoft is also introducing Phi-3-vision, a multimodal model that can process and answer questions about visual information such as diagrams and images.
Microsoft Edge integrates real-time AI-powered translation for video on platforms such as YouTube, LinkedIn, and Coursera. The new feature translates spoken content through both dubbing and captioning.
In the future, companies will also be able to create their own “co-pilot agents” to provide IT support, train new employees, or enter data. The goal is to automate boring and repetitive tasks without putting human jobs at risk.