AI is all the buzz as Microsoft unveils ‘AI-ready’ PCs
Artificial intelligence or AI is all the buzz nowadays and the digital world is beaming but somewhat “chaotic” with how this “phenomenon” in technology is revolutionizing the digital landscape. In fact, AI is transforming how people live and work. Market leaders leverage this new wave of AI innovation to gain a competitive advantage.
In his Dec 2023 blog post about AI, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said: “We are just at the beginning of this transition right now. This is an exciting and confusing time, and if you haven’t figured out how to make the best use of AI yet, you are not alone.” He would add: “Think back to the beginning of the internet. At first, you probably didn’t know many people who were using it, but it became more common over time.”
Now, Microsoft unveiled a new category of PC on May 20, 2024 that features generative artificial intelligence tools built directly into Windows, the company’s world leading operating system. The tech giant estimates that more than 50 million “AI PCs” will be sold over the next 12 months, given the appetite for devices powered by ChatGPT-style technology.
At a launch event in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “We are introducing an entirely new class of Windows PCs engineered to unleash the power of on-device AI. We call this new category ‘Copilot Plus’…the fastest, most AI-ready Windows PCs ever built.”
Of all the tech giants, Microsoft has pushed the most aggressively to infuse the powers of generative AI into its products, often leaving rival Google to play catch-up. ChatGPT-style AI, which is called Copilot at Microsoft, is available across the company’s products, including Teams, Outlook and its Windows operating system.
Microsoft said Copilot Plus PCs, built with powerful AI-ready chips, are 58% faster than the M3 MacBook Air. The tech giant also said that the AI features will take place on the device, so you won’t have to wait for data to get sent to and from remote data-centers or pay for a subscription.
AI offerings will include live translation, image generation and a state-of-the-art ability to interact with your computer through chats and simple prompts instead of clicking on files or drop-down menus. Microsoft’s pivot to AI has been celebrated by Wall Street, and the company is now the world’s biggest company by market capitalization, after dethroning Apple.
Microsoft is OpenAI’s main investor and has injected some $13 billion in the form of cloud computing credits that fulfill the ChatGPT-maker’s huge needs for computing. In return, Microsoft depends on OpenAI’s models — such as GPT-4 for text or Dall-E for images — to feed AI to its products.
Nadella’s announcement on AI comes on the heels of those made by Google and ChatGPT-maker Open AI the previous week. They showcased updates to their chatbots, with even more human-like interactions and new abilities to understand their surroundings via video.
Reference: Microsoft unveils ‘AI-ready’ PCs (msn.com)
