On May 20, 2024, Microsoft will announce Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with ARM chips. In addition, the company is expected to unveil next-generation AI capabilities for its operating system, and the rumored AI Explorer is set to steal the show. Now, a new report has revealed more details about the feature ahead of its official announcement.
According to reports, the new AI explorer will not work on “traditional” computers with Intel and AMD chips. This will require a next-generation chip with a neural processing unit, such as the Snapdragon X Elite or Plus. This rumor was seemingly confirmed by a recent code discovery in Windows 11 version 24H2 builds.
AI Explorer should run in the background and track Everything You do on your computer, regardless of what application is running. This behavior will allow the feature to create “memories” and return to them at a moment’s notice. For example, AI Explorer needs to remember your specific WhatsApp conversation, summarize emails or web pages, etc.
To reduce potential privacy concerns and make things work faster, Microsoft wants to make all of this processing happen on the device. That’s why you’ll need next-generation hardware to run AI Explorer. It’s also worth noting that Microsoft will let you specify which apps AI Explorer shouldn’t track.
Interestingly, Microsoft is working on a new search UI that sits at the top of your screen and will let you type anything in natural language. For example, you can ask Windows to show you web pages on a certain topic that you viewed days ago. Here is a model based on the latest report on AI Explorer:
In addition, AI Explorer can analyze what is happening on the screen at the moment and provide contextual suggestions, such as removing an image background, comparing two documents, help with drafting emails and more. While further optimization would certainly help, many features should work “as is”.
Sources describe the new AI Explorer as “a truly useful AI experience,” and we’ll soon be able to judge for ourselves.
source: Windows Central