On Monday, Microsoft revealed its Copilot+ PC, the Microsoft Surface, as well as new AI-powered Windows 11 features.
In a briefing, Microsoft Chief Executive, Satya Nadella said, “The pursuit has always been about how to build computers that understand us, instead of having us having to understand computers, and I feel like we really are close to that breakthrough.”
A major part of the Surface is the ability to bring new AI-powered tools to apps. Microsoft Paint is one of the lucky ones, gaining a new image generation power tool called Cocreator.
Cocreator, powered by “diffusion-based algorithms,” is able to generate images based on text prompts and doodles inside the Paint app.
Cocreator also comes with a “creativity slider,” that allows the user to control how much they want AI to take over, compared with the original art.
Microsoft has been playing around with the idea of AI image generation in Paint for a while. Early versions of Cocreator have been available to developers for a while. But now, the feature has become official with the introduction of Copilot+ PCs.
According to Microsoft, a Copilot+ PC combines local, on-device AI with cloud AI in order to offer a range of services.
Some of these new laptops will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus processors. The NPU inside will power the AI functions, with over 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS).
A Copilot+ PC requires 16GB RAM, 256GB storage, and an integrated NPU.
Many of Microsoft’s apps and services will now be based around AI and Copilot. The laptops will also come with a dedicated Copilot key for launching the service.
Other AI features announced include Recall, which allows users to locate anything on the PC by describing it, Live Captions, Automatic Super Resolution, which automatically upscales graphics and video, adding detail.
Video Super Resolution works on devices with Nvidia GeForce RTX 20-series cards or newer, as well as AMD Radeon RX 5700 cards or newer.
Microsoft also appears to be improving Windows Studio Effects with additional filters.
Back in September last year, The Verge reported that Microsoft released one of its biggest updates to Windows 11.
This update brought with it Copilot, as well as AI-powered updates to Paint, Snipping Tool, and Photos, RGB lighting support, and a modernised File Explorer.
Microsoft Paint gained Photoshop-like features, as well as support for transparency and layers.
This was also when the Cocreator feature was announced.
In a blog post at the time, Head of Consumer Marketing at Microsoft, Yusuf Mehdi said, “Cocreator unleashes your creativity by simply inputting a text prompt, selecting a style, and generating a unique image. You can then use the array of other tools in Paint to further refine your creation, whether it’s adding layers or drawing on top.”
