Sounds like Intel’s and AMD’s Copilot Plus PCs won’t have Copilot AI features at launch

Microsoft’s new Windows AI features, like Auto Super Resolution for smoother gaming, aren’t exclusive to Qualcomm — Intel’s Lunar Lake and AMD’s Strix Point chips will have enough AI co-processing performance, too. But when Intel and AMD’s new Copilot Plus PCs arrive this fall, no one is promising they’ll ship with all or even any of the new AI features.

Each of those laptops will require free software updates before they get Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI features, and those updates won’t necessarily even arrive before the end of 2024.

“Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix PCs are Windows 11 AI PCs that meet our Copilot+ PC hardware requirements. We are partnering closely with Intel and AMD to deliver Copilot+ PC experiences through free updates, when available,” reads a statement from Microsoft marketing manager James Howell to The Verge.

“Lunar Lake will get the Copilot+ experiences via an update when available,” Intel PR manager Thomas Hannaford similarly tells me.

Nvidia told us something nearly identical about its own Copilot-ready machines this weekend: “These Windows 11 AI PCs will receive a free update to Copilot+ PC experiences when available.”

AMD PR manager Matthew Hurwitz could also not confirm its laptops will have the features at launch. “We expect to have Copilot+ experiences by the end of 2024,” he told me.

Will Intel have them within 2024 at least? Neither Intel nor Microsoft would say when we probed. But all three Qualcomm rivals (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) want you to know that other existing AI features already run on their chips, and hundreds more are coming from independent software companies.

I also don’t want to suggest a delay would be a bad thing — in fact, security experts are warning that Microsoft’s new Recall feature, which takes screenshots of everything you do on your computer as a generative AI memory aid, could be a disaster for security. They’re pushing Microsoft to rethink that plan. Microsoft has not answered The Verge’s questions about Recall security yet.

And from a more basic computing standpoint, reviewers haven’t yet had a chance to validate the battery life and performance claims of this new wave of AI PCs, even Qualcomm’s. I would not personally rush to buy a Copilot Plus PC from any provider until the experts have time to weigh in.