AMD and Intel Now Embrace Copilot+ Upgrades for Enhanced Performance

Microsoft has officially announced that its Copilot+ features will be available for AMD and Intel laptops later this year, following a confirmation made at IFA 2024. According to a recent blog post, users with eligible AMD and Intel PCs will receive these AI enhancements through free Windows 11 updates in November, provided their devices meet the minimum requirements for Copilot+. Initially, there was uncertainty regarding the inclusion of AMD and Intel, as Microsoft had launched Copilot+ exclusively on Qualcomm-powered laptops earlier this year. While both AMD and Intel expressed confidence in making the AI features accessible on their Ryzen AI 300 and Lunar Lake CPUs respectively, they had not provided a specific timeline.

This announcement coincided with Intel's detailed presentation of its Lunar Lake laptop CPUs, set to go on sale later this September. In contrast, AMD has already introduced its Ryzen AI 300 chips, featuring prominently in laptops like the Asus Zenbook S 16 OLED. Both CPU lines meet Microsoft's baseline requirement for Copilot+, which demands a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) capable of at least 45 Tera Operations Per Second (TOPS).

Laptops that fulfill these requirements will gain access to several exciting features in November, including Live Captions with translation, image generation in Microsoft Paint, and AI-driven enhancements in the Photos app. Users will also benefit from Windows Studio Effects during video calls, features already available on current and previous-generation laptops. However, one anticipated feature, Recall, may not be included in this rollout. Recall, which tracks user activity to provide context-sensitive responses, was previously integrated into Copilot+ but has not been utilized outside of press events. Microsoft has indicated that Recall will debut in October for Windows Insiders, potentially paving the way for a broader release in November alongside the certification of AMD and Intel laptops.

Both AMD and Intel assert that their latest CPUs are optimized for Copilot+ and claim superior performance over Qualcomm for AI tasks. Intel reports that its Lunar Lake NPU can achieve 50 TOPS, while AMD boasts that its Ryzen AI 300 CPUs possess the fastest NPU currently on the market. The upcoming availability of Copilot+ will allow us to evaluate how effectively these new CPU ranges handle various AI applications later this year.