It looks like Intel and AMD’s Copilot Plus PCs won’t have Copilot AI capabilities at launch

Microsoft’s new Windows AI features, like Auto Super Resolution for smoother gaming, aren’t exclusive to Qualcomm — Intel’s Lunar Lake and AMD’s Strix Point chips will also have sufficient AI coprocessing performance. But when Intel and AMD’s new Copilot Plus PCs arrive this fall, no one is promising they will ship with all or even any of new AI capabilities.

Each of these laptops will require free software updates before they get Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI features, and those updates won’t even necessarily arrive until late 2024.

“Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix PCs are Windows 11 AI PCs that meet our Copilot+ PC hardware requirements. We are partnering closely with Intel and AMD to deliver Copilot+ PC experiences through free updates when available,” says a statement from Microsoft marketing manager James Howell to On the edge.

“Lunar Lake will get the Copilot+ experiences through an update when available,” Intel PR manager Thomas Hannaford told me.

AMD PR manager Matthew Hurwitz was also unable to confirm whether its laptops will have the features at launch. “We hope to have Copilot+ experiences by the end of 2024,” he told me.

Will Intel have them at least in 2024? Neither Intel nor Microsoft said so when we investigated. But all three of Qualcomm’s rivals (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) want you to know that other existing AI features already run on their chips, and hundreds more come from independent software companies.

I also don’t want to suggest that a delay would be a bad thing – in fact, security experts are warning that Microsoft’s new Recall feature, which takes screenshots of everything you do on your computer, as a generative memory aid AI, it could be a disaster. for security. They are pushing Microsoft to rethink this plan. Microsoft did not respond On the edgeRecall security questions still.

And from a more basic computing standpoint, reviewers haven’t yet had a chance to validate the battery life and performance claims of this new wave of AI-powered PCs, even those from Qualcomm. I personally wouldn’t rush into purchasing a Copilot Plus PC from any vendor until the experts have had time to evaluate.