(AFP) – A new line of PCs specially made to run Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs—fittingly called AI PCs—hit stores on Tuesday as tech companies push toward wider adoption of ChatGPT-style AI.
Microsoft in May announced the new AI-powered personal computers, or AI PCs, which will use the company’s software under the Copilot Plus brand.
The idea is to allow users to access AI capabilities on their devices without relying on the cloud, which requires more energy, takes more time, and makes the AI experience clunkier.
These AI PCs feature a neural processing unit (NPU) chip that helps deliver crisper photo editing, live transcription, translation, and “Recall”—a capability for the computer to keep track of everything being done on the device.
However, Microsoft removed Recall last minute over privacy concerns and said it would only make it available as a test feature.
For now, the devices built by hardware makers like HP and ASUS run exclusively on a new line of processors called Snapdragon X Elite and Plus, built by the California-based chip giant Qualcomm.
“We are redefining what a laptop actually does for the end user,” Qualcomm’s senior vice president Durga Malladi told AFP at the Collision tech conference in Toronto.
“We believe this is the rebirth of the PC.”
At the May launch, Microsoft predicted over 50 million AI PCs would be sold in 12 months, given the appetite for ChatGPT’s powers.
AI PCs to Boost PC Sales?
Such a result would give a much-needed boost to PC sales, which declined for two years from the halcyon days of the coronavirus pandemic before returning to growth in the first quarter of 2024.
Best Buy, the US retail giant, said it had trained tens of thousands of staff to sell and maintain the new line of AI PCs.
Some industry experts are more hesitant about their promise, predicting the actual benefit of upgrading to an AI laptop is not compelling enough yet and will need more time.
“AI’s evolutionary features aren’t revolutionary enough to disrupt traditional buying patterns,” said analysts from Forrester.
“For most information workers, there aren’t enough game-changing applications for day-to-day work to drive rapid AI PC adoption.”
Microsoft has aggressively pushed out generative AI products since ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, with new AI features available across products including Teams, Outlook and Windows.
Feeling the pressure, Google quickly followed suit while Apple entered the game earlier this month, announcing its own on-device AI capabilities rolling out to premium iPhones in the coming months and year.
The latest MacBooks and iPads already have the capability to run high-performing AI features, but Apple has been slower to highlight those powers.
“I guess we missed the boat to name it an AI PC,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, joked recently about the latest generation of MacBook.
Archive
- October 2024(44)
- September 2024(94)
- August 2024(100)
- July 2024(99)
- June 2024(126)
- May 2024(155)
- April 2024(123)
- March 2024(112)
- February 2024(109)
- January 2024(95)
- December 2023(56)
- November 2023(86)
- October 2023(97)
- September 2023(89)
- August 2023(101)
- July 2023(104)
- June 2023(113)
- May 2023(103)
- April 2023(93)
- March 2023(129)
- February 2023(77)
- January 2023(91)
- December 2022(90)
- November 2022(125)
- October 2022(117)
- September 2022(137)
- August 2022(119)
- July 2022(99)
- June 2022(128)
- May 2022(112)
- April 2022(108)
- March 2022(121)
- February 2022(93)
- January 2022(110)
- December 2021(92)
- November 2021(107)
- October 2021(101)
- September 2021(81)
- August 2021(74)
- July 2021(78)
- June 2021(92)
- May 2021(67)
- April 2021(79)
- March 2021(79)
- February 2021(58)
- January 2021(55)
- December 2020(56)
- November 2020(59)
- October 2020(78)
- September 2020(72)
- August 2020(64)
- July 2020(71)
- June 2020(74)
- May 2020(50)
- April 2020(71)
- March 2020(71)
- February 2020(58)
- January 2020(62)
- December 2019(57)
- November 2019(64)
- October 2019(25)
- September 2019(24)
- August 2019(14)
- July 2019(23)
- June 2019(54)
- May 2019(82)
- April 2019(76)
- March 2019(71)
- February 2019(67)
- January 2019(75)
- December 2018(44)
- November 2018(47)
- October 2018(74)
- September 2018(54)
- August 2018(61)
- July 2018(72)
- June 2018(62)
- May 2018(62)
- April 2018(73)
- March 2018(76)
- February 2018(8)
- January 2018(7)
- December 2017(6)
- November 2017(8)
- October 2017(3)
- September 2017(4)
- August 2017(4)
- July 2017(2)
- June 2017(5)
- May 2017(6)
- April 2017(11)
- March 2017(8)
- February 2017(16)
- January 2017(10)
- December 2016(12)
- November 2016(20)
- October 2016(7)
- September 2016(102)
- August 2016(168)
- July 2016(141)
- June 2016(149)
- May 2016(117)
- April 2016(59)
- March 2016(85)
- February 2016(153)
- December 2015(150)