Microsoft officially announces minimum system requirements for Windows AI PCs

Microsoft has a long-term partnership with AI developer OpenAI to incorporate AI features into its search engine Bing , integrate the chatbot Copilot into Windows, and add a new ' Copilot key ' to access AI tools. Microsoft has announced the minimum system requirements for its next-generation AI PC with Windows.

Hardware requirements for Windows next generation AI devices - Microsoft Support
https://support.microsoft.com/ja-jp/topic/35782169-6eab-4d63-a5c5-c498c3037364

Microsoft confirms Windows 11 Recall AI hardware requirements
https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/05/20/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-recall-ai-hardware-requirements/

According to Microsoft, the minimum system requirements for the next-generation AI PC with Windows will exceed the existing minimum system requirements for Windows 11. The minimum system requirements for the next-generation AI PC with Windows are as follows. On May 20, 2024 local time, Microsoft announced a new category for Windows PCs designed for AI, ' Copilot + PC ', and it is clear that 'next-generation AI PC' refers to this ' Copilot + PC '.

Approved List Processor or System-on-Chip (SoC): The approved list includes only embedded processors or SoCs with an NPU of 40 TOPS or greater.
・RAM: 16GB DDR5/LPDDR5
・Storage: 256GB SSD/ UFS or higher storage device

Among the minimum system requirements announced, the part 'processor or SoC with an NPU of 40 TOPS or more' is exactly what Intel executives said would be required for AI PCs. The Intel executive explained that the reason for the need for an NPU of 40 TOPS or more was to make Copilot run locally.

Intel executive says 'next-generation AI PCs will be equipped with NPUs with over 40 TOPS and will be able to run Copilot locally' - GIGAZINE

Microsoft has announced a new AI feature for Windows 11 called ' Recall ,' which records everything you see on your display and then lets Copilot find it later using random clues, or lets you go back in time and retrieve it using a slider.

Microsoft announces new AI feature 'Recall' for Windows 11, a powerful AI search function that records everything you see and do on your PC and allows you to search later - GIGAZINE

Since this feature will only be available on the next-generation AI PC, existing Intel and AMD chips will not be able to use it because they do not meet the minimum system requirements for an AI PC, which is an NPU with 40 TOPS or more. The only devices that meet the minimum system requirements for the next-generation AI PC are the Snapdragon X, Surface Pro 11, and Surface Laptop 7, which are equipped with the Snapdragon X series.

'Copilot+ PC' that can execute Windows AI functions locally will be released by Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung all at once - GIGAZINE

The AI processing power of the NPU installed in Intel's Meteor Lake is 11 TOPS, and the AI processing power of the NPU in AMD's Hawk Point-based Ryzen series is 16 TOPS, but the AI processing power of the NPU installed in Intel's newly announced Lunar Lake is 45 TOPS.

Intel's next-generation processor 'Lunar Lake' has 'power efficiency that overturns the foundation of x86' and 'AI performance more than three times faster than the previous generation' and can run various AI locally - GIGAZINE