"AI New Age" welcomes the first year of AI PC. How can new computers equipped with tiny NPU create huge changes?

2024/02/21

After the surge in demand for AI servers in 2022, the next wave of AI hardware imagination extends to the user end, including PCs, mobile phones, etc. Among them, AI PC will be the focus of attention after the market opens in 2024.

With the official launch of Intel Core Ultra processors at the end of 2023, several laptops labeled as "AI-powered" and "AI-Ready" have been launched, becoming the first wave of AI PCs.

Major software and hardware manufacturers have different interpretations of how AI PC is defined. For example, Microsoft requires a computing power base of 40TOPS. Broadly speaking, AI PC refers to a laptop or desktop computer that includes generative AI applications and can perform AI operations even when the device is offline. Currently, generative AI such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Midjourney mostly rely on cloud computing to produce results. If it can be executed on the user side, it will not only reduce the delay time, but also protect the data without uploading it to the cloud.

▲ Acer Chief Operating Officer Gao Shuguo attended an Intel event in 2023 to showcase thin and light laptops equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors.（Source：Intel）

The biggest key to AI PC lies in the computing platform. Intel is the first in the industry to launch an AI PC acceleration plan and uses Intel Core Ultra processors as the AI PC computing core. This processor uses the new Intel 4 process and has a built-in AI-specific NPU (neural processing unit, neural network processor) to improve generative AI processing capabilities while also adjusting the computer to save power.

When Intel Core Ultra processors were released, they included ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED, Acer Swift Go 14 and e-sports sub-brand Predator Triton Neo 16, MSI Business Prestige AI new series, Gigabyte e-sports sub-brand AORUS 17 / 15, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon / 2-in-1 and IdeaPad Pro 5i have become the first wave of AI PCs released. At the beginning of the year, more new machines were unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2024), which attracted much attention, such as the dual-screen Asus Zenbook Duo, the carbon-neutral notebook Acer Aspire Vero 16, and the lightest 18-inch gaming notebook MSI Stealth 18 AI Studio, etc., are also equipped with Intel Core Ultra processors to improve AI computing capabilities.

Not only Intel, Qualcomm has specially designed Snapdragon Take a piece of the equipment market.

▲ Snapdragon X Elite It should not be underestimated. It is based on the Arm architecture and has the potential to target Apple laptops.（Source：TechNews）

It can be seen from the AI PC launched in Taiwan that the first step is to equip the body with a network camera, microphone, and speaker to enhance AI application capabilities, such as tracking the user's face and eyes during video chat, blurring the background, and reducing background noise. The author actually tried the Zenbook 14 OLED and noticed that the NPU handles video AI operations, such as real-time tracking of eye reactions and blurring the background when the head moves, which is much smoother. There is also AI noise reduction that filters out environmental noise. The response of the old notebook is slower. Slow, but there is a significant improvement in Zenbook 14 OLED, and the gap can be clearly felt. In the past, processors or graphics cards were needed to support this part of the calculations, but in the future, NPUs will shoulder the responsibility.

In addition, MSI AI Artist, a graphics service developed by MSI that uses local computing, allows users to directly generate graphics, graphics, and text using short command text on their laptops without being connected to the Internet, and can even export and save all layers. PSD file for further editing in Photoshop.

It is worth noting that AI PC automatically adjusts hardware settings according to usage scenarios and plays a role in performance control. It can not only achieve the best performance of the computer, but also save more power than older computers.

AI PC combined with Copilot developed by Microsoft using OpenAI generative AI technology is expected to change the way people work and study. Copilot covers content analysis and summarization, drafting emails and articles, generating images and tables, dynamically adjusting computer settings, etc. Not only Windows operating systems, such as Office software and GitHub have also integrated Copilot. People can use Copilot to complete various tasks in a question-and-answer manner, which is very different from the past when they had to search for and open applications by themselves and perform step-by-step operations.

The author even imagines that if Copilot can organize all the file data stored locally (assuming it is not limited to Office software) and quickly generate data summaries and tables, it will save more time, and the data will be processed locally and protected. As for the explosion of third-party AI applications, there are various applications in text content, image/sound creation, programming, etc., all of which can provide more convenient and efficient services.

▲ Copilot is expected to become an indispensable and powerful assistant for AI PC users.（Source：Microsoft）

AI PC has the basic specifications required for computing, and at the same time, AI applications are taking shape and becoming more mature. Each AI application has become a powerful assistant that is close to personal needs. It can help you accomplish tasks through the natural language that people use every day. .

AI PC is expected to drive a wave of machine replacement, but most market research institutions and the PC industry believe that it may not take place until 2025. The key to the massive explosion in demand for machine replacement lies in users’ acceptance and usage of AI applications. If there are no killer applications that allow users to find reasons to rely on AI, using AI PCs will at best mean replacing them with one that has better performance and consumes more power. There are just fewer computers, but people still work and live in the old way.

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