Microsoft will hold a special press event in New York City on Thursday, September 21. While we expected it to officially unveil a number of new Surface PC hardware refreshes, it looks like it will also have a lot of software news, especially on the AI ​​features front.

The Verge It is reported that Yusuf Mehdi, head of consumer marketing at Microsoft, sent an internal memo to employees. He strongly hinted that Thursday’s event will expand Microsoft’s efforts to introduce AI features in many of its software and hardware projects.

The memorandum reads in part:

This Thursday at our event in New York, we will share the next step we will take to continue to build on this work and lead in this exciting new era. I’ll keep the news of this event under wraps until we tell the world later this week, but this will set the vision for what’s to come.

Microsoft went all out on the AI ​​front in 2023, starting with the unveiling of the Bing Chat chatbot in February and expanding to its Microsoft 365 Copilot and Windows Copilot services. The company is also expected to officially launch, or at least announce the launch date, for the next major Windows 11 update, version 23H2, on Thursday as well.

Microsoft is holding the event just a few days after Panos Panai, the veteran leader of Windows and Surface, announced his decision to leave the company after 19 years. He is rumored to be jumping ship to Microsoft’s rival, Amazon, to take over as head of its hardware division.

As a result, Microsoft received a restructuring at the top this week. That included the revelation that Mikhail Parakin, Microsoft’s head of advertising and Internet services, would become the leader of an all-new Windows and Internet Experiences team. The Verge published part of Mehdi’s memo that mentions this new change:

By consolidating Windows, Web and Services into one team under Mikhail Farkhin, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to reimagine our software offering and the consumer experience in the first world of Al and Copilot.

Pavan Davuluri will now be in charge of Microsoft’s hardware efforts, according to Mehdi’s memo. That means it will handle future Surface products, along with other devices and the company’s chip business.

While Thursday should be a big reveal day for Microsoft in several areas of its business, Mehdi stated in the memo that the company has more to announce “soon in the coming weeks and months.”