We do not know much about Windows AI PCs, AI Explorer, or other plans of Microsoft to bake more AI into its operating system.
The only thing we do know is that the upcoming feature update for Windows 11 will focus strongly on AI. At least some of these AI features may require special hardware, a neural processing unit to be precise.
The latest feature that may be introduced in Windows 11 2024 Update, also known as Windows 11 version 24H2, is AI Explorer.
Windows Central posted about AI Explorer citing unnamed sources at Microsoft. According to the site, AI Explorer is an “advanced Copilot” feature that separates AI PCs from non-AI PCs.
The feature tracks what a user does on the PC, everywhere, including in third-party apps, and makes all of this searchable using natural language.
One example: you could ask the AI to find all restaurants that a specific person liked. It will then go ahead and try to retrieve the information using the data that it collected in the past.
You could also ask the AI to return everything about dinosaurs, and it will return text, images, websites and pretty much anything else that matches the query.
That is the theory at least.
Privacy nightmare in the making?
This feature is unconfirmed. Windows Central is usually well informed, but things may change before an official release.
Microsoft declined to comment, which also means that we know little about the feature. How is the data collected? Do users get options to block data collecting in apps? Where it is stored? Does it require an active Internet connection? Is data submitted to Microsoft?
AI Explorer could be an interesting feature if everything is processed and stored locally. It could also be a privacy nightmare, if data is processed and/or stored remotely.
Would you trust a company with access to everything that you do on your computer?
The NPU requirement could mean that everything is handled locally on the system. If true, it could fizzle out the privacy fears of many users. Who knows, Microsoft might even turn Windows Copilot into a useful tool by enabling local processing of Windows-specific tasks and commands.
Not so fast
These AI features will be introduced in development builds before the final release. The integration will provide answers to some of the questions.
Microsoft is extremely tight lipped about its vision for AI PCs. First Surface devices that are AI PCs will become available later this month. These won’t include the functionality yet, as this will come later this year in the 2024 update for Windows 11.
In other words, you get an AI PC that works similarly to non-AI PCs for the time being.
Now You: what is your take on AI Explorer?