Dell recently introduced its first Copilot+ PCs lineup in India, comprising the XPS 13 and the Inspiron 14 Plus. While the company was already selling artificial intelligence (AI) PCs with Intel’s Core Ultra processors, the Copilot+ PCs feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chipset. What’s the difference apart from the processor? On paper, not much. They both get the dedicated Copilot key, the new AI features rolled out by Microsoft, and processing power to handle AI tasks. There are some minor changes, but that does help us understand the full picture.
To gain a better perspective on the entire AI PC space and to simplify the technology and its implementation for the end consumer, Gadgets 360 spoke with Pujan Chadha, Director – Product Marketing, Consumer and Small Business at Dell Technologies. In our interaction, we covered topics such as the difference between Copilot+ PCs and AI PCs, the lack of on-device AI apps and experiences on desktops, the future outlook of AI PCs and the role of government regulations.
Understanding the AI PC Terminologies
So, what exactly is an AI PC? The answer may vary depending on who you ask. From Microsoft’s perspective, an AI PC should have the Windows OS and a dedicated Copilot button. The Copilot key is an important distinction because the lack of it means the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2024), which features the AMD Ryzen 9 processor with an integrated neural processing unit (NPU), is not labelled an AI PC.
However, Intel has distanced itself from this definition. Todd Lewellen, Head of the PC ecosystem at Intel, said in a press briefing, “From an Intel perspective, our AI PC has Core Ultra, and it has an integrated NPU[..]We have great alignment with Microsoft, but there are going to be some systems out there that may not have the physical key on it, but it does have our integrated NPU.”
Complicating the matter still is the equation of Copilot+ PCs. All that has been said about this distinction is that these are the devices that are built on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series chipsets. However, Chadha shed more light on what constitutes a Copilot+ PC. He said, “The PCs that are all getting shipped in India today are all Copilot PCs. Our friends from Microsoft qualify a machine as a Copilot+ PC when the Copilot AI is integrated within them, and the machine can handle 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS) and above. That is currently only available with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets. That is how things are right now, but it is an evolving scene, and we will see how the market evolves in the months to come.”
Building Future-ready machines
Another quandary with AI PCs currently is that there is not much the end consumer can do with these capabilities unless they are well-versed in AI and want to download and run AI models locally. However, that will constitute a small percentage of the total buyers.
When we asked Chadha about this, he said, “AI is still in its initial phase, and it is evolving daily. A dedicated NPU in these machines will be ready whenever a new application comes in that takes advantage of these AI capabilities. These are future-ready machines. That’s how we look at it.”
Dell is also spending considerable time training its in-store promoters (ISPs) and store promoters so that they can, in turn, help the end consumer understand what these machines can do for them, Chadha explained.
“Dell’s global vision is to take the lead in the entire AI PC category. The way we look at this is that AI will kickstart a refresh because these are high ASPU (Average Spend Per User) machines. That’s where these machines’ use cases and effect on productivity will play a critical role. We want to expand our portfolio with AI PCs’ capabilities,” he added.
Is Regulation a Concern?
The AI space is riddled with regulatory concerns that span across issues like data privacy, plagiarism, and the risk of AI reaching superintelligence and posing a threat to humanity. With all this, regulation becomes a priority. Earlier this year, the European Union passed the AI Act, bringing it into effect. Following this, many AI firms, including tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, and Meta, urged the Commission to reconsider certain policies as there was a concern that it might stifle innovation.
In April, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted that the government of India is in the process of legislating AI, and it might arrive any day now. The concern is the same. Will a stringent policy push developers and AI companies away from building tools and experiences for Indians?
Chadha believes otherwise. “We have separate departments of government teams which continue to engage the government. We abide by all the laws, and we drive things that are the best for the consumer and the country as per the local regulations.”
Finally, relevancy is also a concern. With AI models getting more sophisticated and powerful with each passing day, the resources required to run them are also going to increase significantly. Part of the reason why Copilot cannot perform all its duties offline and still requires a server connection to run certain tasks. The same is true for Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
With AI advancing at an exponential rate, there is a fear that on-device AI processing may not last very long and that on-server AI will become the norm. We asked Chadha whether this is a concern and if, in the next five years, AI PCs with a dedicated NPU could become irrelevant.
Answering the question, he said, “It will continue to be relevant. On the consumer side, the data sits on the machine itself due to the NPU. Some of the Copilot features are also available without the Internet. I think we are in for it, and we are going all aboard to elevate the experience for the consumers.”