Microsoft to Host Special Event Focusing on Windows and Surface AI Technology

Microsoft will hold an AI event on Monday morning, May 20th, just before the opening of the Build 2024 conference. In the invitation sent to the media, Microsoft stated that CEO Satya Nadella will discuss the company's "AI vision in hardware and software."

This event will not be live-streamed and is only open to journalists who attend in person. Microsoft's special event will focus on the upcoming Surface hardware and AI-focused Windows changes. Although the software giant will hold an enterprise-focused Surface event later this week, sources familiar with Microsoft's plans revealed that the May 20th event will include consumer-oriented versions of Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6.

These consumer-oriented Surface devices will run on the latest Snapdragon X Elite processor from Qualcomm and come with dedicated NPU hardware to accelerate AI tasks in Windows 11. Microsoft is also developing a new feature called "AI Explorer" for Windows 11, which is designed as a timeline that can be searched on a computer. According to Windows Central, it will record everything you do on your computer so that you can search for a specific moment, similar to the Timeline feature that was ultimately removed from Windows 10 by Microsoft.

This event will also kick off what Microsoft calls the "Year of AI Personal Computing." Partners including AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm are ready to provide processors for Microsoft's significant push in Windows AI. However, we are still waiting for news on when Windows will be able to take advantage of these new chips and laptops.

The May 20th event will also include other parts of Microsoft's AI plans, such as Copilot. Microsoft recently launched the Copilot Pro subscription service worldwide for $20 per month, allowing users to access the latest OpenAI models in Microsoft Office applications.

The Microsoft Build conference will begin on Tuesday, May 21st, and continue until May 22nd. Microsoft stated that updates on "AI, Copilots, and more" will be shared during this event, which will take place both in-person in Seattle and online.