Microsoft hasn't been alone with its aggressive push for the concept of the AI PC. This new category of personal computers was launched to highlight available processing power that could be dedicated to artificial intelligence. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it turned out to be quite the mess for consumers and partners alike, and confusingly, Copilot+ PCs are a different beast altogether since Copilot has been mired in confusion and frustration from consumers.

Though AI PCs (and Copilot+ PCs) all promise some deep AI-integrated dystopian paradise with context-aware assistants and enhanced productivity, what we've often seen launched is anything but. Instead of redefining what the PC can do, neither Microsoft nor the wider industry seems to understand how consumers will actually use AI PCs in everyday life. We've seen heavy investment into the space and countless product launches, but real-world use cases remain troublingly elusive.

What is a Copilot+ PC?

And is it any different from a normal PC?

An AI PC is still a PC, but it just so happens to have some fancy term attached to the front to denote what's likely contained within. The goal of Microsoft's AI PC strategy was sound on paper, with the company seeking to elevate the traditional Windows PC experience, creating an AI-enabled companion to accomplish more than simple compute and display tasks. In order to achieve this, Microsoft and partners worked to incorporate new hardware and software.

That's when the neural processing unit (NPU) became a mainstay of PC specification sheets. These NPUs are dedicated to AI workloads, though just how capable the NPU is depends largely on the chipset and overall hardware configuration. But it's not just hardware, as the software stack needs to be in place for it to do anything, which is where Recall, Copilot, Vision, and countless other software now labeled with AI features come into play. And in case you're wondering, yes, your GPU is probably a lot more powerful than whatever NPU has been integrated in your shiny new AI PC. What the NPU has going for it, though, is power efficiency.

This all sounds great... until you start using an AI PC.

These systems are marketed as tools for accelerating productivity and creativity, enhancing the overall experience by responding to what task is currently being completed. This would include natural language search, adjusting system settings from conversational prompts, and even anticipate requireemnts of desires. It's all well and good explaining this stuff to consumers, but Microsoft and partners continue to have trouble selling it, largely due to consumer confusion.

AI is the next big thing

And it's not slowing anytime soon

The issue with AI is that it's everywhere and is generally mandated onto consumers. None of us woke up one bright sunny morning and collectively thought to ourselves, "You know what would vastly improve Windows for me? Recall and Copilot." The same goes for kitchen appliances, lawnmowers, software, and other products we all consume daily. Most of these don't really have AI at all, but instead, are packing smarter features that are then branded as being "AI." For Microsoft, Copilot was plastered within the taskbar and apps.

There was no escaping it. What Microsoft hoped would be the next frontier for the PC became almost like an unsolicited experiment, and one you couldn't opt out of. Framed as an essential part of Windows as a platform, Copilot was lambasted as being more of a nuisance than something people actively wanted to use. Initial reactions weren't good, and sales of AI PCs haven't been great. Sure, people are buying them, but that's because many of them are normal systems with "AI" slapped on top.

It's difficult to sell AI and what it can do when it doesn't seem to do much for the person looking to purchase a laptop, desktop, mobile phone, fridge, or software package. For systems, the CPU, GPU, battery life, and displays can be tangible upgrades over what they've used before. Since no one knows what AI is supposed to help them accomplish, it's more challenging to understand whether it's worth the investment over a different, sometimes more affordable device without AI mentioned at all.

An NPU that can complete literally trillions of operations every second sounds mightily impressive, but how will that aid me in visiting my favorite social media platform, consuming YouTube content, and editing some documents? Then there's the fact that an "AI PC" can technically be anything, and it doesn't just have to mean Copilot+. It can include Copilot+ features that run on the NPU, but it could also simply refer to a device with an NPU rather than an NPU and Copilot+. I, like many, have always viewed most AI implementations as a solution searching for a problem, especially so when a lot of the touted features, such as webcam background replacements, have existed for years.

You can't Recall this

Recall was designed to be an integral part of Copilot+, but instead of being something you could rely on for daily computing, Recall turned out to be a privacy nightmare. I used to believe AI was pretty much useless, at least for my workflow and needs, but I eventually began to appreciate what LLMs can do when used right. For Microsoft and AI PCs, things aren't as rosy, and I don't see the need for AI on the machine, at least for what I use a PC for. But Recall, Copilot+, and everything else don't explain what AI can do.

It's a shame because AI can be brilliant. I run LLMs at home and integrate them with Home Assistant and some other services that elevate my experience with various tasks by handling mundane and repetitive steps. Then there's the chatbots themselves. They're great for assistance, be it researching topics, writing up some code, or even creating fictional worlds for the next D&D tabletop session. Microsoft itself even has some cool features, such as Highlights in Copilot Vision.

This essentially replaces family tech support. Instead of phoning a tech-savvy relative, those with limited computing knowledge can show Copilot the app they're currently using and what they wish to achieve, and the tool will provide steps to complete it. It all sounds pretty useful and something I can get behind for AI on the PC, but this doesn't need some fancy AI PC label, nor does it really require advanced processing capabilities.

For now, hardware vendors are making increasingly powerful systems, and Microsoft and partners are adding software layers on top to leverage the NPU and other technologies. Yet consumers largely ignore everything and continue using Windows and other software as they would on other hardware.

2026 seems to be no different

AI was everywhere at CES 2026. There was an abundance of AI-infused lawnmowers, for some reason. It was strange to navigate through the vast halls and be bombarded with AI this, AI that, but it was The Future of Computing: Shaping the Next Era of AI PCs, CES 2026 panel that really cemented this. This panel had some brilliant minds up on stage, including Kedar Kondap from Qualcomm, Microsoft's Robin Seiler, Samuel Chang from HP, and Deepa Subramaniam of Adobe.

Speakers were tasked with discussing ecosystem collaboration, performance and experience, software and creative workflows, and industry alignment. What came from this panel was yet more confusion. It didn't seem like anyone really knew what consumers would get from an AI PC. Even Adobe, with its focus on creativity, didn't really add much to the mix. HP was easy since the company needs to sell AI PCs, but Microsoft continues to struggle with pushing its own AI features.

One such example of how AI could be useful was to alter screen brightness. Asking the AI companion to bring up the setting so you can then slide the toggle isn't more convenient than navigating through the settings app, though that would say more about Windows UX rather than needing AI to handle the task. Plus, I suspect that it isn't exactly Copilot+ that holds the magic key to make that possible. After all, we've had Natural Language Processing on our PCs for well over a decade. If this is the best these companies can conjure up, people are going to remain skeptical about AI on all their devices.

Unfortunately, I don't see this trend halting anytime soon. We're going to continue seeing AI slapped on just about everything, as well as a push forward with yet more powerful and capable AI chatbots. I reckon we'll even reach a point where we'll have to stop and ask ourselves, "Where is this going?" It's not just the AI PC, but the wider industry at large that needs to properly explain to people what they can get out of AI.