On May 20, 2024, Microsoft will announce the Surface Pro 10 and the 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 should steal the show. Now, a new report revealed more details about the feature ahead of its official announcement.
Right off the bat, the new AI Explorer reportedly will not work on "traditional" PCs with Intel and AMD chips. It will require a next-generation chip with a Neural Processing Unit, such as a 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 keep track of everything you do on your computer, regardless of what app is running. This behavior would let the feature create "memories" and get back to them at the moment"s notice. For example, AI Explorer should remember your specific conversation in WhatsApp, summarize emails or web pages, etc.
To mitigate potential privacy concerns and make things work faster, Microsoft wants to make all that processing happen on-device. That is why you will need next-gen hardware to run AI Explorer. Also worth noting is that Microsoft will let you specify what apps AI Explorer should not track.
Interestingly, Microsoft is reportedly working on a new search UI that would sit at the top of your screen, allowing you to type anything using natural language. For example, you would be able to ask Windows to show you web pages about a certain topic you viewed days ago. Here is a mockup based on the latest report about AI Explorer:
In addition, AI Explorer can analyze what is happening on the screen right now and provide contextual suggestions, such as removing a picture background, comparing two documents, helping you draft emails, and more. While additional optimization from third-paryt developers will certainly help, plenty of features should work "as is."
Sources describe the new AI Explorer as "a truly useful AI experience," and soon, we will be able to judge ourselves.
Source: Windows Central