Microsoft set to unveil its vision for AI PCs at Build developer conference

Microsoft's Build developer conference kicks off on Tuesday, giving the company the opportunity to showcase its latest artificial intelligence projects, following high-profile events this month hosted by OpenAI and Google.

One area where Microsoft has a distinct advantage over others in the AI race is in its ownership of Windows, which gives the company a massive PC userbase.

Microsoft CEOSatya Nadella said in January that 2024 will mark the year when AI will become the "first-class part of every PC."

The company already offers its Copilot chatbot assistant in the Bing search engine and, for a fee, in Office productivity software. Now, PC users will get to hear more about how AI will be embedded in Windows and what they can do with it on new AI PCs.

Build comes days after Google I/O, where the search giant unveiled its most powerful AI model yet and showed how its Gemini AI will work on computers and phones. Prior to Google's event, OpenAI announced its new GPT-4o model. Microsoft is OpenAI's lead investor, and its Copilot technology is based on OpenAI's models..

For Microsoft, the challenge is twofold: keeping a prominent position in AI and bolstering PC sales, which have been in the doldrums for the past two years following an upgrade cycle during the pandemic.

In a recent note on Dell to investors, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring wrote that he remains "bullish on the PC market recovery" due to commentary from customers and recent "upward revisions to notebook" original design manufacturer (ODM) builds.

Technology industry researcher Gartner estimated that PC shipments increased 0.9% in the quarter after a multi-year slump. Demand for PCs was "slightly better than expected," Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said on the company's