Subj : Windows 11 fears over watermark for PCs that dont meet AI Explore To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Tue Apr 30 2024 12:00:06 Windows 11 fears over watermark for PCs that dont meet AI Explorer requirements are unfounded, leaker clarifies Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 10:56:32 +0000 Description: Windows 11 rumors can sometimes get out of hand, and thats what happened in this case. FULL STORY ====================================================================== Windows 11s next big feature is rumored to be AI Explorer indeed, its strongly rumored and theres been some controversy stirred up over how this might be implemented in the OS recently. This was caused by a recent post on X (formerly Twitter) from well-known Microsoft leaker Albacore, who dug up clues in Windows 11 code that suggest AI Explorer checks the PCs system components and warns if they dont meet the requirements for the AI feature. Some folks took this as a hint that maybe Microsoft could put a watermark in Windows 11 somewhere to enact this warning, but Albacore just tweeted again to clarify that this definitely wont be the case. Clearing up a few things 1. These are requirements as of build 26100.1, MS can change them later2. Warnings displayed if your system doesn't meet them are purely within AIX, no OS-wide nag3. AIX is AI Explorer, NOT AI File Explorer! Completely separate app, not a replacement https://t.co/XmnjzCYSOY April 28, 2024 See more As you can see, the leaker clearly states that any warning about the system not hitting the necessary requirements would be purely placed within the AI Explorer interface itself. This means youd open the AI Explorer app (it will be a standalone app, not to be confused with File Explorer), and itd just present you with that info (you cant run this essentially). As Albacore says, thered be no OS-wide nag flagging this up, such as a watermark or other banner elsewhere in the broader Windows 11 interface. This would just be confined to the AI Explorer app, so it wouldnt bother you if you never went near it. Analysis: Exploring an ARM-first strategy? A further reminder Albacore provides here is that the requirements themselves for AI Explorer which are, according to the info the leaker previously dug up, an insistence on 16GB of system RAM and, more controversially, an ARM CPU could change. That is, of course, something we pointed out back at the time when we reported on this . Not only are these requirements just in preview builds of Windows 11, but theyre tucked away in testing to boot. They could easily be altered later in the year when Windows 11 24H2 finally arrives with AI Explorer on board. (If the rumors are right indeed, we dont know for sure that will happen even. Microsoft could delay the implementation, after all, if AI Explorer isnt working well enough by the time 24H2 rolls around). Mind you, we can see why AI Explorer might have to be ARM-only to begin with mainly because it leverages a powerful NPU (to presumably be responsive and nippy enough), and only Snapdragon X chips will have that to begin with. Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix Point mobile CPUs with equally beefy NPUs wont be too far behind, mind you, and at that point, Microsoft will presumably open up AI Explorer more if this is the path it takes in the first place. It's not unthinkable that Microsoft might want to use AI Explorer to help shift units of its incoming Surface devices for consumers running ARM (Snapdragon X) chips either, at least to begin with. After all, Surface sales have been lackluster of late, and this could be a good way of firing up some enthusiasm for the range again, at least for a short time. Yes, there are a lot of ifs and buts here, which is why we always advise a good dollop of caution with any leak. Its good to hear the clarification that any AI Explorer warning wont be a system-wide nag, though, even if we didnt believe Microsoft would go that far in the first place though some folks did, or at least theorized about that possibility. You might also like... Forget Apples M4 MacBooks Lenovos Snapdragon X Elite laptops have been spotted Watch out: soon some older PCs will lose Windows 11 support Dont make these 5 big mistakes when using Windows 11 ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/windows/windows-11-fears-over-watermark-fo r-pcs-that-dont-meet-ai-explorer-requirements-are-unfounded-leaker-clarifies --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .