Microsoft debuts $1K Copilot+ PCs with AI features: ‘Compelling reason to upgrade’

Microsoft on Monday debuted a new category of personal computers with AI features as it rushes to build the emerging technology into products across its business and compete with Alphabet and Apple.

At an event on its campus in Redmond, Wash., Chief Executive Satya Nadella introduced what Microsoft calls “Copilot+” PCs, saying that it and a range of manufacturers would sell them, including Acer and Asustek Computer

Microsoft launched the laptops as its shares trade near record highs following a Wall Street rally driven by expectations that AI will fuel strong profit growth for the company and its Big Tech rivals.

Able to handle more artificial-intelligence tasks without calling on cloud data centers, the new computers will start at $1,000 and begin shipping on June 18.

Microsoft showed a feature called “Recall,” which will help users find files and other data that they have seen on their PC, even if it was a tab opened in a Web browser. The company also demonstrated its Copilot voice assistant acting as a real-time virtual coach to a user playing the “Minecraft” video game.

Yusuf Mehdi, who heads up consumer marketing for Microsoft, said the company expects that 50 million AI PCs will be purchased over the next year. At the press event, he said faster AI assistants that run directly on a PC will be “the most compelling reason to upgrade your PC in a long time.”