Unlocking the Future: Features of Copilot+ PCs with AI-Powered NPUs

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When it comes to pushing the boundaries of PCs, Microsoft is plunging headlong into the AI-driven future with Copilot+ PCs—a class of machines equipped with Neural Processing Units (NPUs) designed to supercharge AI tasks. If you thought AI on your device was all about virtual assistants and smart text suggestions, buckle up—there’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s about to make your traditional PC feel like a flip phone. Let’s peel back the layers of just what these machines bring to the table, and how they stand apart in this brave new tech world.

What is a Copilot+ PC?​

Before diving into the cool stuff, let’s distinguish between Microsoft’s Copilot and Copilot+. Copilot—as you may already know—is a generative AI tool accessible across platforms, including Windows, Office apps, browsers like Edge, and even your mobile devices. This AI leverages cloud computing for tasks, making it dependent on remote servers to generate results.
Copilot+, however, is a different beast entirely. These are PCs outfitted with NPUs, designed to handle AI tasks locally on the device rather than shipping them off to the cloud. This local processing approach not only ramps up speed and efficiency but also ensures that certain AI capabilities remain operational without an internet connection. The result? A future-proof system specifically tuned for AI-enhanced features. Think of it as the Ferrari of PCs, with a hyperefficient engine under the hood.

Why Local AI Processing is a Game-Changer​

AI tasks usually require a lot of computational power, and most PCs offload this heavy burden to cloud servers. But this dependency has its limits—cloud processing introduces latency, raises privacy concerns, and ties everything to an internet connection. Copilot+ solves these dilemmas by letting your PC do the heavy lifting. Thanks to NPUs, image generation, real-time language processing, and AI-enhanced photo editing are now snappier, safer, and more reliable.
Sure, the Copilot+ tech is in its infancy, but it promises to shake up our expectations of what PCs can do—irrespective of whether you’re gaming, working, or just sketching your next masterpiece. All that said, let’s dive into the eight exclusive tricks Copilot+ can pull off, making these devices truly unique.

1. Cocreator: AI-Assisted Art in Microsoft Paint

Raise your hand if you’ve ever embarrassed yourself trying to draw something in Microsoft Paint. Enter Cocreator, a feature within the updated Paint app on Copilot+ PCs. Simply rough out a basic sketch, throw in some descriptive text, and watch AI transform your scribbles into polished art that actually looks good. Cocreator can even refine the resulting image further as needed.
But wait—it gets even better. A mock Creativity slider allows you to finetune the balance between your original sketch and the AI’s magic. Feeling Picasso-like? Keep the slider low. More of an “abstract thinker”? Crank it up for wilder interpretations. Cocreator also lets you point to a personal photo and add effects or custom styles, though the system still outsources verification to the cloud for safety. Either way, this is Paint on steroids!

2. Image Creator: Get Outlandish Visuals from Thin Air

Need an image of a tuxedo-clad walrus riding a unicycle through Times Square? No problem! Image Creator, embedded in the Photos app, crafts stunning visuals using AI based solely on text prompts. Whether you’re working on quirky social media posts or conceptualizing art for a project, this tool saves you the time and expense of sourcing stock imagery.
Pro tip: Let your imagination run wild, but remember that results from highly complex prompts may need some refinement. Simple or straightforward requests yield cleaner results. This is another feature that benefits immensely from the NPU’s local processing power.

3. Restyle: Transform Your Photos with the Power of AI

Feeling adventurous with your photography? Restyle lets you reimagine your photos in various exotic styles—think Renaissance art, cyberpunk aesthetics, or anime vibes. You simply type what you’re envisioning, and voilà! The tool interprets your vision and applies it to the image. You also have a localized control option where only the foreground or background gets a makeover. Cue the Instagram flex.
One exciting application for Restyle? Breathing new life into old snapshots. Say goodbye to boring filters and hello to transformative effects that bring your creativity to the forefront.

4. Super Resolution: Sharpen and Scale Like a Pro

We all have that one photo we love but can’t use because of poor resolution. Enter Super Resolution, a feature designed to fix exactly that. This tool uses AI to upscale your images by up to 8x the original size while enhancing details and eliminating artifacts. Running on the device’s NPU, it delivers faster results than traditional cloud-based alternatives (like what you might find in Adobe Lightroom).
The split-view comparison feature is an extra treat, letting you see exactly how much sharper your photo looks after the adjustment.

5. Live Captions: Breaking Language Barriers

Dubbed by some as one of the “best AI tools” on Copilot+ PCs, Live Captions does exactly that—it captions any audio playing on your device in real-time, translating spoken content from over 40 languages into English. This is insanely useful if you're watching foreign films, attending international webinars, or working closely with multilingual teams.
Keep in mind that, for now, English is the only supported output, so non-Anglophone users will have to wait for future updates.

6. Studio Effects: Next-Level Webcam Tweaks

These days, everyone wants to look their best on video calls. Studio Effects, accessible via the Windows Quick Settings, includes advancements like Automatic Framing (think moving camera without the tripod), Eye Contact Correction, and Creative Filters to jazz up your webcam feed. While not all effects perform flawlessly—Eye Contact may still feel a bit uncanny—it’s lightyears ahead of your standard meeting setup.

7. The Copilot Key: Hold the Magic in One Tap

For ultimate convenience, Copilot+ PCs come equipped with a dedicated Copilot key that opens the AI assistant instantly. This isn’t your grandma’s clunky keyboard button; it’s your gateway to asking natural-language questions, drafting emails, generating code, or even synthesizing a personalized daily podcast (yep, Copilot Daily).
Too lazy to type? Use your voice! In conversational mode, Copilot responds with remarkable realism, making it feel like you’re chatting with a savvy intern who’s at your beck and call 24/7.

8. AI Optimization in Windows Apps

Lastly, thanks to hardware acceleration provided by NPUs, applications such as Adobe Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, and even Skylum Luminar can leverage your Copilot+ PC for blazingly fast AI tasks, including content-aware editing or AI color correction. That’s in addition to lightning-quick performance of regular apps, which ran seamlessly during PCMag’s cross-platform tests. The kicker? Many of these aren’t even natively optimized for the Arm architecture yet, which means the results will only improve over time.

A Glimpse into the AI-Enhanced Future​

Copilot+ PCs represent a pivotal moment in computing where localized AI capabilities are set to redefine productivity, creativity, and entertainment. Whether you’re using the generative tools to create expressive designs, assistive features to simplify your workflow, or language translation to break communicative barriers, the potential is enormous—and we’ve only scratched the surface.
But as exciting as this sounds, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room. Will AI-enhanced PCs see widespread adoption? How about the long-term ecosystem costs of maintaining support for both Arm- and x86-optimized devices? These are questions time—and the Windows community—will eventually answer.
Stay tuned as we dig deeper into Copilot tech updates and provide hands-on experiences with this next-gen innovation. Until then, keep an eye out for Copilot PCs hitting shelves near you, and don’t settle for anything less when upgrading your tech arsenal.

Source: PCMag 8 Cool Things You Can Do Only With a Copilot+ PC