Predictions from Microsoft on Surface, Windows, and the Surface Go 3: How Artificial Intelligence will affect your PC and How you use your computer

Surface and Windows will not be the sole focus of Microsoft’s special event. I’m expecting to hear a lot more about Microsoft’s Copilot plans for Microsoft 365 and Office apps. It’s time to get a release date for when enterprise users can get access to Copilot, as Microsoft put a steep price on it in July.

It is believed that the Surface Go 4 will have a similar design to the Surface Go 3 model. Speaking of leaks, images of the Surface Laptop Go 3 have also appeared online. It looks similar to the Surface Laptop Go 2 and is expected to ship in October.

I’m expecting Microsoft to detail more than just Copilot, though. A new feature for copying text from a picture to another has been added to the test version of the Photos app, as have features for adding background blur to photos.

Paint is also rumored to be getting the AI treatment soon with text-to-image prompts to generate images automatically. Photos is also rumored to be getting a new feature to identify people or objects in photos and then cut / paste them elsewhere — much like a similar feature on iOS.

In an interview with The Verge last year, the head of Microsoft’s applied sciences group Steven Bathiche said that Artificial Intelligence will have a “profound impact” on how you use your computer.

Copilot, Web, and Services for a Microsoft-Al and Copilot-First World: An Internal Memo from Mehdi

The Surface team has been focused on AI for years now with features like Windows Studio Effects. The Arm-powered Surface Pro X was the first device to come with a feature that changed your eyes during a call to make it look like you are always making eye contact through the camera.

Microsoft also turned to AI to help power its Surface smart camera recently, so there’s a chance we might see other accessories that leverage AI smarts for Surface.

The copilot in office can allow businesses to instantly summarize documents, Generate emails, and speed up their analysis. It’s Microsoft’s chance to try and brush off the competition of similar AI-powered features for Google Workspace, Zoom, and Slack.

Microsoft also started rolling out a preview of Bing Chat Enterprise earlier this year, which is essentially the same Bing Chat that’s available to consumers but with added commercial data protection. When the Bing Chat enterprise version comes out of preview and adds features, I will expect us to hear about them.

Mehdi finished up his internal memo to Microsoft employees by rallying the troops after Panay’s departure, in a sign that Microsoft will need its various businesses to work closely together if it wants to execute its ambitious AI goals:

Windows is also changing leadership, with a greater focus on AI and Microsoft’s Copilot technology. Mehdi says: “We give ourselves the opportunity to transform our software offering and the consumer experience in an Al and Copilot-first world by bringing Windows, Web, and Services into one team under Mikhail Parakhin.” With teams coming together into a single organization, I think the pace and change will be amazing, and they will be able to differentiate and deliver value in a way no one is doing today.

We lead in this race to put Al in service of people and businesses around the globe. We have the best and broadest product offerings across software, services, and devices. We believe we have the most compelling vision for delivering these advantages to our customers through our partners. Now is the time for us to step up — as a collective team — to deliver on this vision.

Our moment this Thursday is only the beginning. We have more experiences and capabilities coming soon in the weeks and months ahead. It’s an exciting time to be at Microsoft.