Microsoft exec says the future of Windows is AI agents 'taking on even more complex tasks'

A new blog post from Microsoft talks about the NPU and how it's vital to the future of Windows, driving one of the key elements in the OS, namely AI agents.

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The post from Athima Chansanchai (spotted by Ghacks), who's a corporate news reporter on the Microsoft Stories team, is mostly about recapping what we already know about NPUs and accelerating local AI workloads (and a vehicle for plugging Copilot+ PCs, naturally).

However, it contains some interesting quotes giving us another strong hint of how important AI will be for next-gen Windows, from corporate VP Steven Bathiche, one of the co-founders of the Applied Sciences team at Microsoft.

Bathiche notes that: "If you think about it, for the past 60 years, how we used a computer really hasn't changed", meaning we've used a desktop PC with the mouse and keyboard for a long time now.

However, Bathiche observes that AI agents are going to ensure there'll be a lot less clicking in the future for Windows users.

All this echoes what other Microsoft executives have recently said about voice commands given to AI becoming a mainstream way of working with a Windows PC.

The first AI agent is in Windows 11 now, for those with a Copilot+ PC, that is, who have access to the AI in the Settings app, where it can find options for you (and perhaps recommend suitable settings for your needs).

Windows 11 is going further than this, and as the post notes:

"Soon, the team envisions on-device agents taking on even more complex tasks."

So, there will be a fair few more of these agents in Windows 11 before too long, or at least that's the current plan.

Bathiche enthuses:

"Agents are really the north star. They're now the new unit of interaction for people and of programming for developers."