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Artificial intelligence
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Microsoft unveils AI-capable Windows PCs said to be faster than Apple’s MacBook Air

  • The Copilot+PC line can help users find a file or an email using text prompts, and generate live English captions for foreign language videos
  • The computers, which run chips from Qualcomm, are 58 per cent faster than Apple’s top-of-the-line MacBook Air M3, according to Microsoft

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Microsoft vice-president of Surface devices Brett Ostrum held the company’s new AI PCs at an event in Redmond, Washington, on Monday. Photo: AFP
Bloomberg
Microsoft introduced new software and computers infused with artificial intelligence (AI) features – stepping up its efforts to out-compete Alphabet’s Google and Apple in the dawning AI age.
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A new category of AI-focused personal computers (PCs) will be called Copilot+PC, chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event Monday at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, campus.

The machines from Microsoft’s Surface line and manufacturing partners will offer more power and will be 58 per cent faster than Apple’s top-of-the-line MacBook Air M3, the company said, thanks in part to a special chip that is dedicated to AI processing. The new machines will start at US$1,000.
Microsoft also said OpenAI’s GPT-4o, an updated version of its GPT-4 that is better at handling text, audio and images in real-time, will soon come to the company’s Copilot AI assistant.
Full Keynote: Introducing Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft demonstrated a feature called Recall that is designed to help users find a buried browser tab, file, email or chat, based on conversational language prompts. It will be like “photographic memory,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s consumer chief marketing officer.

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Microsoft is aiming to demonstrate that generative AI will revolutionise computing for regular consumers, not simply its corporate cloud customers.

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