How Copilot + PCs Leverage AI for Enhanced Performance

Exciting news! Microsoft is unveiling a new class of Windows PCs geared for AI called Copilot + PCs. These groundbreaking devices are the fastest and most intelligent Windows PCs, powered by the Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors. With powerful new silicon capable of an incredible 40+ TOPS, enhanced performance, and all-day battery life, Microsoft claims that Copilot+ PCs are 20 times more powerful and up to 100 times more efficient for running AI workloads than a regular PC.  

You can find what you have seen on your computer using the clues you remember with the Recall feature, and Live Captions can translate audio from 40+ languages into English. Cocreator lets you quickly find, build, and modify AI images in real time. These top-notch experiences come in reality on elegant, lightweight devices from Microsoft Surface and their OEM tech partners, including ASUS, Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.  

This first wave of Copilot + PCs has just arrived on the market. They are not your run-of-the-mill PCs but the next-gen AI computing powerhouses, promising blazing-fast speeds and AI-accelerated power.

 

In the past, you have witnessed an incredible pace of AI innovation in the cloud with Copilot. Now, let's embark on a new chapter with AI innovation on a machine. From silicon to the operating system, the application layer to the cloud—with AI at the centre, Microsoft has completely reimagined the entirety of the PC.  

What makes a Copilot PC?  

Microsoft has built an all-new "AI model" architecture combining the power of CPU, GPU, and a high-performance Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Powered and enhanced by large language models (LLMs) running in Microsoft's Azure Cloud in concert with small language models (SLMs), Copilot + PCs provide performance you have never experienced. They are up to 20x more powerful and 100x as efficient as standard PCs and industry-leading AI acceleration. They compete with Apple's MacBook Air 15" by up to 58% in sustained multithreaded performance while maintaining all-day battery life. The best part? They offer 22 hours of local video playback or 15 hours of web browsing on a single charge.  

Here is what a Copilot + PC is at a glance.

• 40+ TOPs NPU
• NPU alongside CPU and GPU
• Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite or Plus PCs
• Releases from Microsoft, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung
• Copilot assistant with dedicated keyboard key
• AI features: Recall, Cocreate, Live Captions w/ translation, app-specific experiences and much more

 

The game-changing NPU (Neural Processing Unit)

Central to the innovation of Copilot + PC lies a Neural Processing Unit silicon chip—a dedicated processor built to accelerate AI-specific applications. It performs more efficiently than traditional CPU and GPU by focusing on AI workloads. It comes preloaded with GPT modalities such as video and audio generation, voice commands and accelerated image generation to revolutionise your AI computing.  

How do CPU, GPU, and NPU work together?

As mentioned, NPU in a Copilot + PC works alongside the CPU and GPU to optimise AI workflows. While the CPU tackles general computing tasks and the GPU specialises in graphics rendering, the NPU focuses on processing AI algorithms. This division of functions allows each component to operate at peak efficiency, enhancing the performance of AI-centered applications.  

TOPS: Metric for AI performance evaluation

TOPS (Trillions or Tera Operations Per Second) is a crucial metric for measuring the performance of NPUs. It offers a standardised way to compare AI capabilities across various processors and architectures by calculating the maximum number of operations a processor performs per second. Meanwhile, the GPUs have the highest TOPS, typically between 600 and 1300. On the other hand, NPUs boast TOPS ranging from 40 to 45, and they are responsible for specific AI operations, including deep learning and matrix multiplication.  

Leveraging powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors or X Plus

The first wave of Copilot + PC launched with the Snapdragon X Elite or X Plus inside, notable because of their unique identification as "Arm processors". Qualcomm's closest current competition includes AMD's Ryzen Hawk Point platform, featuring NPU with 16 TOPS and Intel's Meteor Lake NPU with 10 TOPS. This means neither company offers a processor that can be branded as Copilot + capable.  

Unparalleled implementation of applications on the fastest chip  

Windows has the best implementation of apps on the most efficient chip backed by Qualcomm. Microsoft provides more native Arm64 experiences than ever before, such as the implementation of Microsoft 365 apps like Teams, PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, and OneDrive, as well as other popular software including Chrome, Spotify, Zoom, WhatsApp, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, Blender, Affinity Suite, DaVinci Resolve and more. Integrating neural processing chips ensures these apps perform effectively, providing an elevated experience.  

SLMs and LLMs

As discussed, Copilot + PCs rely on powerful processors and multiple state-of-the-art AI models, including several of Microsoft's world-class SLMs or LLMs, to directly bring new AI capabilities to the device. As for SLMs, they are quite similar to large language models as they can understand and generate language but at smaller scales, measuring up to millions or tens of millions of parameters, which is still more considerable.  

On the other hand, LLMs scale to the order of billions or trillions, giving you access to a much broader range of functionalities that can generate human-like text across diverse topics.  

The Benefits of Using Copilot + PCs

A Copilot + PC brings plenty of advantages to your table. They provide entirely new and powerful AI experiences and remove previous latency, cost, and security limitations to help you be more creative and productive and communicate more efficiently.

Recall instantly  

One of the most innovative features of Copilot + PC is its Recall capability. This feature helps you find files and folders you have previously seen or used. You can scroll across the time to find the content you need, any website, document, or application.  

Copilot + PCs organise information on relationships and associations unique to each other, helping you see what exactly you are looking for quickly using snapshots with screenplay. Recall leverages your semantic index, which is built and stored entirely on your device. Your snapshots stay local on your PC. You can delete individual snapshots, adjust and delete time ranges in Settings, or pause at any point directly from the icon in the System Tray on your Taskbar. Under the hood, users can filter apps and websites from ever being saved.  

Cocreate with AI-powered tools integrated into Windows

After the launch of Image Creator, almost 10 billion images have been generated. The Image Creator tool helps bring your ideas to life quickly by using natural language. However, today's cloud offerings may limit the number of images you can create, make you wait while the artwork processes, or even raise security concerns. The Neural Processing Units (NPUs) and powerful local small language models on Copilot + PCs add new innovative AI experiences to your favourite creative applications like Paint and Photos.

For instance, you can combine your ink strokes with text prompts to make new images in real-time with Cocreator. As you iterate, so does the artwork, helping you refine, edit, and evolve your ideas more easily. Use the creativity slider to choose from a range of artwork, from more literal to more expressive. Once you select your artwork, you can continue iteration and express your ideas regardless of your creative background.  

New AI experiences from the creative applications you love

Microsoft is partnering with your favourite editing and design apps to leverage the power of NPU and take your creativity to new heights.  

Adobe: Microsoft is thrilled to announce Adobe's flagship collaboration with Copilot + PCs, bringing you apps like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Express. The Adobe Creative Cloud customers will benefit from the full performance advantages of Copilot + PCs to elevate their creative endeavours.  

DaVinci Resolve Studio: You can easily apply visual effects to objects and people using the NPU-accelerated Magic Mask in DaVinci Resolve Studio.

CapCut: You can remove the background from any video or image using Auto Cutout running on the NPU in the CapCut.  

Boost productivity

The Snapdragon X is designed to run the processes quickly while consuming less power. Copilot + PC’s battery claims are also something to talk about here. It claimed 22 hours of local video playback and 15 hours of web browsing on some Copilot + devices. There will certainly be variations based on screen sizes, battery sizes, and thermals, but devices have made a huge jump over what you can expect of Windows laptops. They allow you to:  

• Work for hours on a single charge.  
• Get faster responses to your prompts.  
• Run intensive applications without facing lags or downtimes.  

Stay connected and informed with live captions

In this ever-evolving world, Windows aims to bring people closer together. Whether watching your favourite international sports team, catching an international podcast or collaborating with friends and colleagues worldwide, it strives to make more content available to everyone.  

Copilot + PC features Live captions, which turn any audio that passes through your PC into a single, English-language text across all your apps in real-time. You get translation of any live or pre-recorded audio in any app or video platform from over 40 languages into English subtitles instantly, automatically, and even while offline. Backed by the NPU and available across all Copilot + PCs, you can rest assured that your words are understood as you intended.

Improve security and privacy 

The Snapdragon X Series has been known for its exceptional chip-to-cloud security, which extends through safeguards, including Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit, Qualcomm Trusted Execution Environment, and Microsoft Pluton. So, all the Copilot + PCs are secured core, meaning they come preloaded with personalised privacy controls and One-device AI to preserve tasks and data on your device. For example, Liquid Text uses AI features that run entirely on-device through NPU, so your data stays private.

Copilot—Your trustworthy AI companion

Every Copilot + PC in the market has a pre-built AI agent just a single tap away on your keyboard with the new Copilot key. Copilots offer the full application experience, responding to what you are asking for in a simple, streamlined, yet personal design—it has the most advanced AI models at your fingertips

What are hardware requirements for Copilot + PC?

Copilot + PCs are part of the Windows 11 family powered by neural processing units, capable of running 40+ trillion operations per second. Customers will be most likely to need new hardware to run Copilot + PCs efficiently. In addition to the minimum system requirements for Windows 11, you should have to upgrade to the following hardware for Copilot + PCs:

The New Era of Microsoft Surface Copilot + PCs

Microsoft's latest release of Surface AI laptops, including Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Surface Pro 11 Edition, provides best-in-class features.  

They have keyboards with built-in Copilot key that launches the AI-powered Copilot assistant on your laptop. A Windows button to open your shortcuts, a media controls key, and a button to adjust your device's brightness. The Surface Laptop 7 Edition supports the smartest and most ultraportable design with AI acceleration. Both of these best Microsoft laptops come equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Elite processors supported by Hexagon NPU. These fast laptops not only integrate AI in their processing units but also in their cameras. Yes, you hear it right!  

Surface Laptop 7th Edition has a 1080p full HD front-facing camera that facilitates video communication and content creation. If you are looking for a 2-in-1 next-gen Copilot + PC, the Surface Pro 11 Edition has you covered with a 1440p Ultrawide field of view Quad HD front-facing camera and a 10 MP Ultra HD rear-facing camera.

Conclusion  

Copilot + PCs are a transformative leap in the evolution of personal computing. They integrate advanced AI capabilities directly into the hardware to redefine performance and efficiency standards. From powerful new NPUs to advanced AI models, features like Recall to Live Captions, Copilot + PCs enhance productivity, creativity, and communication in so many ways.  

Looking ahead, the Potential Developments in Copilot + PCs open new doors to advancements that could revolutionise how we interact with the digital world.  

The potential developments including AI-driven predictive analytics and seamless cross-device synchronisation promise a future where intelligent computing is not just a convenience but an integral part of everyday life. So, whether you are a creative professional, a business user, or someone seeking the latest tech experience, Copilot + PCs provide a future-ready solution.