Microsoft looks to kick-start its AI push
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An image of Microsoft's new "Click to Do" feature for Copilot+ PCs. Image: Microsoft
After privacy controversies stymied its signature Recall feature, Microsoft is looking to reboot its AI PC effort with improvements, the addition of some new AI tricks and broader chip support.
Why it matters: The addition of built-in AI functions could give the PC industry a much-needed boost, but only if Microsoft can deliver the right combination of features — and security — to entice businesses and consumers.
Driving the news: Following a delay, Microsoft has revamped Recall, requiring users who want to enable the feature to both opt in and to use biometrics to authenticate themselves, among other changes.
- Microsoft is also adding new features for its Copilot+ PCs, including a universal "Click to Do" option that brings up different AI-assisted actions based on the content on the screen.
- With a photo, for example, people will have the option to blur the background, remove an object or conduct a visual search. When there is text, users will have options to rewrite or summarize the text, conduct a web search or send an email.
- Microsoft is also expanding the Copilot+ PC effort to include machines with processors from Intel and AMD, whose chips power the overwhelming majority of Windows PCs.
Catch up quick: Microsoft introduced the concept of Copilot+ PCs in May, with a series of AI features that run locally on the machine rather than having to rely on cloud-based services.
- Recall promised to follow and keep a record of everything a user sees and does on screen. That could make an AI assistant more helpful, but it also raised hackles over the amount of personal data Microsoft could gain access to.
The big picture: Former Inflection CEO Mustafa Suleyman, who was tapped in March to head Microsoft's consumer AI effort, released a memo describing the "AI companion for everyone" he aims to build.
- "I truly believe we can create a calmer, more helpful and supportive era of technology, quite unlike anything we've seen before," he wrote, laying out his vision for the first time since joining Microsoft, while noting it will take years to fully develop the technology.
- Suleyman pledged that Microsoft's Copilot+ will grow to understand more context and remember the most helpful details from your life while also "safeguarding your privacy, data and security."
- "Over time it'll adapt to your mannerisms and develop capabilities built around your preferences and needs," Suleyman said, and it will eventually be able to act on user's behalf. "We are not creating a static tool so much as establishing a dynamic, emergent and evolving interaction."
- The effort is more comprehensive than the piecemeal features thus far unveiled for Copilot+, reminiscent of the broader vision Apple has laid out for Apple Intelligence, which also appears to be a long-term endeavor.
Between the lines: The challenges for Microsoft are familiar ones. It is a huge company, separated into a host of product teams, and it has to work with several chip suppliers and PC partners, complicating efforts to deliver a unified and compelling experience.
- Microsoft is also trying to seamlessly blend homegrown AI technologies with those from partner OpenAI.
- As part of its announcements on Tuesday, Microsoft said it is testing a 'think deeper" feature that gives Copilot+ the ability to reason through more complex problems by "using the very latest reasoning models" — i.e., OpenAI's new o1 model.
