5 Big Announcements From Microsoft’s Fall AI and Surface Event

A very busy September for new devices continued Thursday with Microsoft’s latest event. The company unveiled a couple of new notebooks, but the company devoted a good chunk of the day to new AI developments for multiple Microsoft programs. It isn’t a shock considering competitors such as Google have already started implementing AI across a number of its products. Throw in some Windows 11 updates and you have yourself a nice fall offering.

Copilot

Microsoft’s AI-powered assistant Copilot is being streamlined and built into Windows 11, Microsoft 365, Edge and Bing. The company framed Copilot’s integration as a personal assistant that is available to assist users in a number of ways that we’ve seen in other AI-assisted programs. Microsoft showed off demos of Copilot explaining how to solve math equations and analyzing emails for pertinent information.

Microsoft 365, where Copilot originated, is also getting a new Copilot-powered tool called Microsoft 365 Chat, which can read and summarize text and files across the company’s office suite and analyze files to improve AI-generated blog posts. It also includes the new “sounds like me” feature which helps write AI-generated emails in a form closer to the user’s personal voice.

DALL-E3 Coming To Bing

Microsoft’s big splash in its partnership with OpenAI, Bing Chat, is adding the latest version of the AI firm’s image generation software, DALL-E3, for free, and thankfully the company is adding a tool that will mark AI images as such, a great addition that should go a long way to alleviating disinformation. Bing Chat is also adding a Personalized Answers tool that tailors the chatbot’s responses using your history of interaction with the program.

Surface Laptop Studio 2 (Starts at $1,999)

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is, according to Microsoft, the most powerful Surface device offered by the company yet. The notebook is the first Surface to feature a separate Intel neural processor in addition to an Intel 13th-Gen i7 H class CPU and either an Nvidia RTX 4050 or 4060 GPU. The 2-in-1 notebook includes 64GB RAM, up to 2TB of storage, a haptic touchpad and a 14.4-inch display, and it is compatible with the Surface Slim Pen 2. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is available for preorder now ahead of its Oct. 3 launch.

Surface Laptop Go 3 (Starts at $799)

Microsoft’s cheaper notebook option gets an update this year that feels very similar to last year’s model outside a bump in CPU power. The Surface Laptop Go 3 adds an Intel 12th Gen i5 processor, which the company says makes the 2023 iteration “88% faster” than its predecessor. A speed upgrade is always welcome, but little has changed beyond that. The notebook is lightweight and features a 12.4-inch touchscreen display, making it a cost-effective option for Surface fans on a budget and on the go. The Surface Laptop Go 3 is available for preorder now and will launch on Oct. 3.

Windows 11

In addition to the new Copilot features, Windows 11’s next update adds a revamped File Explorer,updates Notepad to autosave sessions for quickly accessing work in the app, and adds AI tools to apps such as Paint and Photos. The update will be available on Sept. 26.