Microsoft on Monday introduced a new range of AI powered devices called the Copilot+PC. The new PCs are being seen as an attempt by Microsoft to leverage the power of generative AI in reigniting the long-standing rivalry with the Apple MacBooks. Notably, Apple had gotten a leg up on its Windows counterparts with the switch from Intel to its own ARM based M series chipsets. Now, Microsoft is trying to bring on the competition with the addition of Snapdragon's ARM-based chipset, which are touted to be around 58% faster and 20% longer battery life than the MacBook Air with M3 chipset.
The Redmond based company is also introducing a new AI feature, which in the words of CEO Satya Nadella, will provide ‘photographic memory’ to the new laptops. The feature called ‘Recall’ will allow users to remember things that they have previously seen on their PCs by navigating across different apps, websites or documents.
The feature essentially takes screenshots of everything that's on a user's screen and then uses the power of generative AI to help navigate the thing that the user may be looking for.
While talking about the new feature in an interaction with the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, "One of the dreams we've always had is how do we introduce photographic memory into what you do on the PC and now we have it. So it's called recall, not keyword search, right? It's semantic search over all your history. And it's not just about any document, we can recreate moments from the past.
Microsoft explained that the new feature works on the user's personal semantic index and leverages the small language model inside the laptop to complete the tasks on-device. Moreover, the company also states that all the screenshots are saved on device and processed through the on-device model in order to enhance user's privacy. The company also stated that users will have the ability to stop a particular app or website from being tracked by the AI or turn off the feature altogether.