Artificial Intelligence is all the rage, but whether it's a fad or not is something nobody can really say just yet. However, there are a number of things that Microsoft will need to do in order to improve the AI experience of users assuming that it is something that takes off and becomes commonplace across the industry.

Standardize AI APIs and hardware requirements

Imagine a DirectX, but for artificial intelligence

Microsoft's DirectX started in the late 90s, arising from criticism that the Windows platform was hard to develop for compared to what was available under MS-DOS. Incompatible graphics drivers were also a worry, and developers preferred to write games for consoles and hardware that they knew would remain the same. DirectX was born from this, as it allowed developers to use a set of APIs for drawing graphics, with a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) bypassing Windows 95 routines and accessing the hardware directly.

With AI, we're somewhat in a similar boat. Intel and AMD are both launching their own AI solutions that software developers need to support directly, and there's no all-purpose Windows API to utilize all of the existing hardware out there. DirectML is the closest but is primarily aimed at GPUs and machine learning contexts, rather than on-device AI that companies like Intel and AMD are pushing with their NPUs.

As for what defines an "AI PC," Microsoft hasn't publicly declared what that is. We know that part of the requirements is a dedicated Copilot Key and an NPU, but there are other requirements that the company hasn't stated publicly yet. This also presumably means that older PCs that are more powerful than some newer ones still won't be designated as an AI PC.

Because of all of this, consumers are in the dark about whether they have an "AI PC" in the eyes of Microsoft. If that will have restrictions in the future isn't clear, but I worry that there will be a software flag that may gatekeep future API additions based on whether the computer is an AI PC or not. If Microsoft does this and sticks to its strict requirements that have been outlined by Intel so far, then people who have PCs with the best GPUs out there will be artificially prevented from using those features until they upgrade.

Incetivize developers to use AI

Why should developers use it?

The first step to introducing a new hardware feature is bringing the feature to the masses, and the second is to actually entice people to use them. Microsoft will need to make a push for developers to understand that building applications for Windows means building applications for a wide variety of AI uses.

As for what those AI uses are, in a recent interview with Intel, I was told that there are a ton of things that developers are building that make use of AI right now. Adobe's creative suite is filled with applications making use of AI hardware features to improve the speed of those applications, such as the generative capabilities of Photoshop and Lightroom.

The point still stands, though; if developers don't know that the capabilities are there, then they won't think to try and make use of them. It's essentially a chicken and egg scenario, where developers will need to be made aware that those features and capabilities exist in a way they may not have thought of yet.

The "AI PC" is all just marketing

Nobody knows, or cares, what it really means

The problem with "AI PC" is that nobody really knows or cares what it means, either. It has no bearing right now on what model of computer you purchase currently and for good reason. It has no significance when it comes to the AI capabilities of most devices right now, and the average consumer also doesn't particularly care about that either. We're currently at risk of inducing AI consumer burnout, and all it does is add to that.

The best way to prevent that is to make sure people are educated about what AI can actually do for them. Teaching people that the applications they use on a day-to-day basis are made better by the AI capabilities in their laptop or computer is the best way to make people care about it. As it stands, people just see the "AI" buzzword and make assumptions about what that means for them, and in most cases, that means nothing, really.

If Microsoft wants to help grow AI, then they'll also need to get over the social implications of what AI is perceived to be. With more AI features coming to more and more devices, Microsoft might not have much of a hurdle to climb.