Welcome to the Cloud Wars Minute — your daily cloud news and commentary show. Each episode provides insights and perspectives around the “reimagination machine” that is the cloud.
Highlights
00:08 — Today, I’d like to introduce you to an exciting new AI-related product that showcases the future direction of AI technology. It’s the Copilot+ PC from Microsoft. This innovative platform is specifically designed to enhance AI performance on laptops. But the standout feature of the Copilot Plus PC is its built-in neural processing unit (NPU).
00:51 — Traditionally, GPUs, or graphics processing units, were used for AI processing. However, GPUs are not optimized for AI tasks. In contrast, an NPU is dedicated to AI tasks, enabling more efficient and powerful processing. One of the key benefits of this is that AI processing can be moved from the cloud to the PC itself. This reduces latency.
02:13 — New functionalities include Co-Creator, GenAI software for creating images. Live Captions is another feature that can translate 40 different languages into English in real-time. Studio Effects enhances video conferencing and streaming with features like video filters and portrait lighting.
03:27 — Another feature is Voice Focus, which is noise cancellation that tries to remove all the noise in a conference other than what it detects as being a voice. The NPU also aids in tasks such as background blurring on video calls, which often takes a lot of CPU power but can instead be very efficiently done on that NPU.
04:31 — In summary, what I believe this shows is that Microsoft is finding ways to bring AI power directly into consumer devices instead of always relying on shared server capabilities. It’s trying to bring it down to the device level. So, this is something I expect we’re going to start seeing a lot more.
05:36 — I’m excited to see that Microsoft is releasing this. By the time you see this video, it should be available for purchase. I’m hoping to get one, and when I do, I’ll report back on how well it works.
The AI Ecosystem Q1 2024 Report compiles the innovations, funding, and products highlighted in AI Ecosystem Reports from the first quarter of 2024. Download now for perspectives on the companies, investments, innovations, and solutions shaping the future of AI.
