The ultimate form of the PC, Copilot replaces the windows key, and NPU comes as standard

In recent months, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, AMD, and others have been actively promoting the concept of AI PCs, which means that more AI functions will be integrated into PCs in the future. Market research institutions believe that 2024 will be a critical year for the development of AI PCs, and it is expected that AI PCs are expected to account for 95% of the total laptop market by 2029, with shipments reaching 230.5 million units. However, as an emerging concept, the industry is trying to give a standard definition of AI PC.

Intel and Microsoft jointly define that AI PCs must be equipped with Copilot function keys at one of the cores

According to Baidu Encyclopedia's explanation, AI PC, that is, AI computer, also known as artificial intelligence computer, is a personal computer that integrates artificial intelligence technology. By integrating hardware such as NPU, CPU, GPU, etc., it fundamentally changes, reshapes, and reconstructs the PC experience while achieving high energy and low consumption, unleashing people's productivity and creativity. AIPC can be applied to a variety of scenarios, including graphic vision, semantic understanding, and intelligent interaction.

In December last year, Lenovo Group and IDC jointly released the industry's first "AI PC Industry (China) White Paper", which also made a basic definition of AI PC, that is: AI PC integrates hybrid AI computing power units on the hardware, and can run "personal large models" locally, create personalized local knowledge bases, and achieve personalized natural interactions.

AI PC is a personal AI assistant tailored for everyone, which not only improves production efficiency and simplifies workflow, but also better grasps the user's preferences and protects personal privacy data security, as if it is a digital extension of the user, just like the user's intelligent twin. Different from the existing general-purpose PCs, AI PCs will provide users with four major values: personalized services in general-purpose scenarios, instant and reliable service responses, lower costs for using large models, trusted and secure personal data, and privacy protection.

A few days ago, Intel held a developer event in Taipei, introducing the definition standards for AI PCs given by its partners such as Microsoft. The definition of AI PC jointly developed by Microsoft and Intel is that it must be equipped with an NPU, CPU, and GPU, and support Microsoft's Copilot, and the Copilot physical keys are directly equipped on the keyboard. It can be seen that, according to Microsoft's definition, one of the cores of AI PCs must be equipped with Microsoft's Copilot function keys.

The Microsoft Copilot key is a brand new hardware key that is located to the right of the spacebar on the keyboard, opposite the Win key. Users can quickly launch Windows Copilot, the built-in AI assistant, by simply pressing the key. Windows Copilot is a powerful AI assistant that helps users efficiently complete a variety of tasks, such as document editing, data analysis, scheduling, and more. Through the Copilot key, users can easily integrate AI assistants into their daily work and life, improving work efficiency and quality of life.

In this case, laptops with Intel's latest Core Ultra chips that have been released on the market without the Copilot function key cannot be considered true AI PCs in Microsoft's opinion.

However, in Intel's opinion, these devices are enough to be classified as AI PCs. Todd Lewellen, head of the PC ecosystem at Intel, explained that we both agreed that AI PCs should have Core Ultra processors, Copilot, and Copilot function keys. "From Intel's perspective, our AI PCs are equipped with Core Ultra and have an integrated NPU built-in, which officially opens up new capabilities and capabilities in the AI space," Lu added. We're very much aligned with Microsoft, and while some devices on the market may not have physical Copilot buttons, they do come with our integrated NPU.

From Intel's and Microsoft's perspectives, they all hope that PCs will be able to add Copilot function keys in the future. In fact, at present, both terminal manufacturers and chip manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are actively promoting AI PC products to the market. At the same time, they all have their own understanding of AI PCs. It is expected that with the gradual popularization of the market in the future, the definition of AI PC will continue to evolve.

In this case, laptops with Intel's latest Core Ultra chips that have been released on the market without the Copilot function key cannot be considered true AI PCs in Microsoft's opinion.

However, in Intel's opinion, these devices are enough to be classified as AI PCs. Todd Lewellen, head of the PC ecosystem at Intel, explained that we both agreed that AI PCs should have Core Ultra processors, Copilot, and Copilot function keys. "From Intel's perspective, our AI PCs are equipped with Core Ultra and have an integrated NPU built-in, which officially opens up new capabilities and capabilities in the AI space," Lu added. We're very much aligned with Microsoft, and while some devices on the market may not have physical Copilot buttons, they do come with our integrated NPU.

From Intel's and Microsoft's perspectives, they all hope that PCs will be able to add Copilot function keys in the future. In fact, at present, both terminal manufacturers and chip manufacturers such as Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are actively promoting AI PC products to the market. At the same time, they all have their own understanding of AI PCs. It is expected that with the gradual popularization of the market in the future, the definition of AI PC will continue to evolve.

Intel and Microsoft are actively deploying AI PCs

Intel can be said to be the pioneer in AI PC, and it is said that Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was the first to propose the concept of AI PC in Silicon Valley last September. Intel says an AI PC is a PC that can play with AI capabilities. AI can fundamentally change and reshape the PC user experience and unleash people's productivity and creativity through close collaboration with PCs in the cloud or by running large language models on the PC side independently.

In October last year, Intel officially launched its first AI PC acceleration program. The program will bring AI features to more than 1 million PCs by 2025 and will be spearheaded by the upcoming Intel Core Ultra processors. In December last year, Intel officially released the first generation of Core Ultra processors. The Core Ultra is the first processor built on Intel's 4 process. Powered by Intel's first on-chip AI accelerator for clients, the Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU), the processor takes energy-efficient AI acceleration to the next level, delivering 2.5 times the energy efficiency of the previous generation.

At the developer event held in Taipei, Intel also further promoted the AI PC acceleration program launched in October last year. Intel plans to host a series of events throughout the year to help developers become familiar with various AI models and tools. At the same time, they will launch the AI PC Hardware Development Kit, which is a new laptop that comes pre-loaded with the required software, drivers, and development tools.

By focusing on developers, Intel hopes to incentivize more applications to take advantage of the newly introduced NPU hardware. At the moment, there are still not many applications that can use this hardware effectively. One of the highlights is Microsoft's Windows Studio Effects, which can blur the background and make eye contact during video calls, becoming the main application example of NPU in Windows systems today.

Intel is not only committed to fostering the interest of software developers, but also expanding the AI PC Acceleration Program to hardware vendors to help them optimize and support hardware products for Intel's AI PCs. Intel is working to engage as many software and hardware developers as possible to optimize applications and hardware for the upcoming AI PCs.

At the beginning of March this year, Microsoft integrated artificial intelligence into personal computers for the first time, releasing two new PCs, Surface Pro 10 Business and Surface Laptop 6 Business, which are the first Surface PCs to be equipped with a dedicated Copilot AI button.

Microsoft refers to the two new devices as AI PCs. The new button allows the user to open the Copilot panel on the right side of the screen at any time. The new Surface devices are equipped with Intel's latest Core Ultra processors, which not only improve traditional computing and graphics performance, but also incorporate a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to provide powerful computing power for AI workloads.

Microsoft has been consciously moving in the direction of AI PCs for an early age. In January this year, Microsoft officially announced the Copilot key, which was the first major keyboard change for Windows PCs in nearly three decades, marking the beginning of Microsoft's AI-enabled era of Windows PCs. Together, the Copilot key and the Windows key form the core of the PC keyboard. When the user presses this new key, the Copilot experience on a Windows PC will be launched, in other words, a one-click direct access to the AI assistant.

In the future, everyone may have an AI PC. In addition to Intel and Microsoft, AMD and Qualcomm are also actively carrying out AI PC-related work. In addition, Qualcomm will also release laptops with Snapdragon X Elite processors, which means that AI PCs on the Arm platform will not be left behind. In this way, it seems that the prosperity of AI PCs is just around the corner.