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Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple is gearing up to reveal a new AI system on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac next week at WWDC 2024 — and it will be called Apple Intelligence, according to a report from Bloomberg. In addition to providing new “beta” AI features across Apple’s platforms and apps, it will reportedly offer access to a new ChatGPT-like chatbot powered by OpenAI.
Apple reportedly won’t focus on buzzy AI features like image or video generation and will instead focus on adding AI-powered summarizations, reply suggestions, and an AI overhaul for Siri that could give it more control over apps while chasing applications with “broad appeal.”

Apple will use its “own technology and tools from OpenAI” to power its new AI features, according to Bloomberg. The company will reportedly use an algorithm to determine whether it can process a particular task on-device or if it will need to send the query to a cloud server. Previous reports have pointed out how Apple could focus on using its own M2 chips in data centers with a Secure Enclave to say that data processed remotely is as secure as it would be on-device.
To address other potential security concerns, Bloomberg says Apple won’t build profiles based on user data and will also create reports to show their information isn’t getting sold or read.
Bloomberg reports users on iPad or Mac will need devices powered by an M1 chip or later, while the mobile requirements could be restricted to either an iPhone 15 Pro or one of the iPhone 16 devices launching this fall. As reported by Bloomberg, Apple won’t force users to use the new AI features and will make the capabilities opt in.

Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge

Apple is gearing up to reveal a new AI system on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac next week at WWDC 2024 — and it will be called Apple Intelligence, according to a report from Bloomberg. In addition to providing new “beta” AI features across Apple’s platforms and apps, it will reportedly offer access to a new ChatGPT-like chatbot powered by OpenAI.

Apple reportedly won’t focus on buzzy AI features like image or video generation and will instead focus on adding AI-powered summarizations, reply suggestions, and an AI overhaul for Siri that could give it more control over apps while chasing applications with “broad appeal.”

Apple will use its “own technology and tools from OpenAI” to power its new AI features, according to Bloomberg. The company will reportedly use an algorithm to determine whether it can process a particular task on-device or if it will need to send the query to a cloud server. Previous reports have pointed out how Apple could focus on using its own M2 chips in data centers with a Secure Enclave to say that data processed remotely is as secure as it would be on-device.

To address other potential security concerns, Bloomberg says Apple won’t build profiles based on user data and will also create reports to show their information isn’t getting sold or read.

Bloomberg reports users on iPad or Mac will need devices powered by an M1 chip or later, while the mobile requirements could be restricted to either an iPhone 15 Pro or one of the iPhone 16 devices launching this fall. As reported by Bloomberg, Apple won’t force users to use the new AI features and will make the capabilities opt in.

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Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Starting this fall, it appears Siri is going to be much more powerful. Whether this is good news or a harbinger of infinite technological frustration depends on how you feel about Siri, AI, virtual assistants, and the whole idea that your devices should be able to do stuff on your behalf. Either way, it seems virtually certain that at Apple’s WWDC event on Monday, we’re going to hear an awful lot about how Siri can make your life better.
This year’s WWDC is actually an important one for Apple. CEO Tim Cook and others have been hinting that this is when Apple will reveal its grand plans for AI and end the notion that Apple is somehow behind Google, OpenAI, and the rest. What will it look like, though? Who knows! But it’s going to be AI, and it’s going to be everywhere.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we preview what’s coming at WWDC and whether a heaping helping of AI is actually what Apple devices need. But before we get to that, we run through a laundry list of gadget news, from Intel’s new chips to Humane’s would-be buyers to Palmer Luckey’s new Game Boy. After that, it’s WWDC time.
Once we finish talking about Apple, and how Alex Cranz wants to use AI to ugly up her phone real good, we do a proper lightning round and talk about streaming price hikes, Chromebooks, Elon Musk, and whether $56 billion is enough to motivate someone to care about their job. Tough question, really.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started, first with the week’s gadget news:

This is Lunar Lake — Intel’s utterly overhauled AI laptop chip that ditches memory sticks
Humane is reportedly trying to sell itself to HP for $1 billion
From CNBC: Humane, the startup behind the AI Pin, in talks with HP, telecoms to sell
Humane warns AI Pin owners to ‘immediately’ stop using its charging case
Even the Raspberry Pi is getting in on AI
Apple put a Thread smart home radio into its newest Macs and iPads
Apple just corrected the M2 iPad Air’s core count
Samsung leak reveals a cheaper Galaxy Watch

Nothing’s Phone 3 will be all about AI apps

The Asus ROG Ally X is official — and I took a peek inside
Palmer Luckey is now selling pixel-perfect ultrabright magnesium Game Boys for $199

And on WWDC:

What to expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024
iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps
Apple’s non-AI WWDC plans include Settings and Control Center revamps
Apple might bring AI transcription to Voice Memos and Notes
Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set for June 10th
Nvidia is now more valuable than Apple at $3.01 trillion

And in the lightning round:

Alex’s pick: Max raises prices across its ad-free plans

David Pierce’s pick: Google acquires Cameyo to integrate Windows app virtualization into ChromeOS

Nilay Patel’s pick: Tesla CEO Elon Musk could leave if $56 billion pay package not approved, shareholders warned

Image: Alex Parkin / The Verge

Starting this fall, it appears Siri is going to be much more powerful. Whether this is good news or a harbinger of infinite technological frustration depends on how you feel about Siri, AI, virtual assistants, and the whole idea that your devices should be able to do stuff on your behalf. Either way, it seems virtually certain that at Apple’s WWDC event on Monday, we’re going to hear an awful lot about how Siri can make your life better.

This year’s WWDC is actually an important one for Apple. CEO Tim Cook and others have been hinting that this is when Apple will reveal its grand plans for AI and end the notion that Apple is somehow behind Google, OpenAI, and the rest. What will it look like, though? Who knows! But it’s going to be AI, and it’s going to be everywhere.

On this episode of The Vergecast, we preview what’s coming at WWDC and whether a heaping helping of AI is actually what Apple devices need. But before we get to that, we run through a laundry list of gadget news, from Intel’s new chips to Humane’s would-be buyers to Palmer Luckey’s new Game Boy. After that, it’s WWDC time.

Once we finish talking about Apple, and how Alex Cranz wants to use AI to ugly up her phone real good, we do a proper lightning round and talk about streaming price hikes, Chromebooks, Elon Musk, and whether $56 billion is enough to motivate someone to care about their job. Tough question, really.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started, first with the week’s gadget news:

This is Lunar Lake — Intel’s utterly overhauled AI laptop chip that ditches memory sticks
Humane is reportedly trying to sell itself to HP for $1 billion
From CNBC: Humane, the startup behind the AI Pin, in talks with HP, telecoms to sell
Humane warns AI Pin owners to ‘immediately’ stop using its charging case
Even the Raspberry Pi is getting in on AI
Apple put a Thread smart home radio into its newest Macs and iPads
Apple just corrected the M2 iPad Air’s core count
Samsung leak reveals a cheaper Galaxy Watch

Nothing’s Phone 3 will be all about AI apps

The Asus ROG Ally X is official — and I took a peek inside
Palmer Luckey is now selling pixel-perfect ultrabright magnesium Game Boys for $199

And on WWDC:

What to expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024
iOS 18 (and AI) will give Siri much more control over your apps
Apple’s non-AI WWDC plans include Settings and Control Center revamps
Apple might bring AI transcription to Voice Memos and Notes
Apple’s WWDC may include AI-generated emoji and an OpenAI partnership
Apple’s WWDC 2024 is set for June 10th
Nvidia is now more valuable than Apple at $3.01 trillion

And in the lightning round:

Alex’s pick: Max raises prices across its ad-free plans

David Pierce’s pick: Google acquires Cameyo to integrate Windows app virtualization into ChromeOS

Nilay Patel’s pick: Tesla CEO Elon Musk could leave if $56 billion pay package not approved, shareholders warned

Read More 

Image: The Verge

Every year, Apple’s WWDC comes third after Google’s I/O and Microsoft’s Build developer conferences, and Apple has hardly ever needed to announce a product in response. This time, however, things are different.
Over the past month, Apple’s biggest rivals presented bold plans for AI, with Google showing its latest Gemini models and Microsoft revealing powerful Copilot features like Recall. Now, Apple has to step up to the plate and show that it isn’t far behind in bringing its customers useful generative AI experiences.
Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference starts on Monday, June 10th with a presentation at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Here’s what you can expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote.
AI, AI, and more AI
At WWDC, Apple is rumored to infuse its operating systems with AI — with Siri being the focal point. According to Bloomberg, Apple has reworked Siri using large language models to help it better understand what users want and better respond to their queries. The new version of Siri will reportedly be able to take actions for you inside of Apple’s own apps, potentially making the assistant far more capable than it is today.
Apple is apparently going to brand the AI features as “Apple Intelligence” and build them in throughout its apps, Bloomberg reports. Other AI features might include AI summaries of messages and webpages and real-time transcriptions in Notes and Voice Memos, according to Apple Insider. A custom emoji generator is in the cards, and the Photos app will reportedly let you use AI to remove objects and people from images.
An OpenAI partnership
Apple is also said to have looked into third-party partnerships to bolster its AI prowess. The company was reportedly talking to Google and Anthropic, but it sounds like the one deal it’s locked down is with OpenAI, which recently showed off a powerful personal assistant-like conversation feature for ChatGPT. Some sort of ChatGPT-like chatbot is now headed to Apple’s devices, according to Bloomberg.
A green bubble power up
Apple is finally adopting Rich Communication Services (RCS) as the default fallback for iMessage, and we will likely see it arrive as part of iOS 18. This means that, soon, iPhone and Android users can set aside their blue and green bubble differences and instead send each other longer text messages and higher-quality photos — hopefully all while remaining end-to-end encrypted, too.
Apple had previously ignored Google’s (sometimes cringey) pleas to adopt RCS and let go of the age-old and privacy-lacking SMS fallback. It took some regulatory pressure to get Apple to rethink its stance. As for the green bubbles, they will stick around. But they will be good green bubbles.
A more customizable homescreen
At long last, Apple may finally let users arrange apps to their liking. MacRumors reports that you’ll finally be able to leave blank spaces between apps in iOS 18. And Bloomberg has reported that Apple will integrate a theming system into the OS, letting you recolor icons to match each other.
Plenty of app updates
As part of operating system updates for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and beyond, Apple is also expected to debut new and enhanced versions of its built-in apps. Rumors point to the Calculator app getting a refresh and finally debuting on the iPad, a password manager launching across Apple’s platforms, and redesigns coming to Apple’s messy Settings and Control Center screens.
Mac updates are coming… but maybe not at WWDC
Apple’s redesigned iPad Pro launched in May with a new AI-focused M4 chip — marking the first time an M-series chip did not come first to a Mac. I’m not going to debate what a computer is, but I’d wager we’ll see M4 chips in Macs soon. Apple’s MacBooks are all offered with M3 chips, while the Mac Studio and Mac Pro continue to lag behind with M2 chips.
So far, though, there aren’t any rumors suggesting refreshed machines will show up at WWDC, so we may be waiting until later this year.

Image: The Verge

Every year, Apple’s WWDC comes third after Google’s I/O and Microsoft’s Build developer conferences, and Apple has hardly ever needed to announce a product in response. This time, however, things are different.

Over the past month, Apple’s biggest rivals presented bold plans for AI, with Google showing its latest Gemini models and Microsoft revealing powerful Copilot features like Recall. Now, Apple has to step up to the plate and show that it isn’t far behind in bringing its customers useful generative AI experiences.

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference starts on Monday, June 10th with a presentation at 1PM ET / 10AM PT. Here’s what you can expect at Apple’s WWDC 2024 keynote.

AI, AI, and more AI

At WWDC, Apple is rumored to infuse its operating systems with AI — with Siri being the focal point. According to Bloomberg, Apple has reworked Siri using large language models to help it better understand what users want and better respond to their queries. The new version of Siri will reportedly be able to take actions for you inside of Apple’s own apps, potentially making the assistant far more capable than it is today.

Apple is apparently going to brand the AI features as “Apple Intelligence” and build them in throughout its apps, Bloomberg reports. Other AI features might include AI summaries of messages and webpages and real-time transcriptions in Notes and Voice Memos, according to Apple Insider. A custom emoji generator is in the cards, and the Photos app will reportedly let you use AI to remove objects and people from images.

An OpenAI partnership

Apple is also said to have looked into third-party partnerships to bolster its AI prowess. The company was reportedly talking to Google and Anthropic, but it sounds like the one deal it’s locked down is with OpenAI, which recently showed off a powerful personal assistant-like conversation feature for ChatGPT. Some sort of ChatGPT-like chatbot is now headed to Apple’s devices, according to Bloomberg.

A green bubble power up

Apple is finally adopting Rich Communication Services (RCS) as the default fallback for iMessage, and we will likely see it arrive as part of iOS 18. This means that, soon, iPhone and Android users can set aside their blue and green bubble differences and instead send each other longer text messages and higher-quality photos — hopefully all while remaining end-to-end encrypted, too.

Apple had previously ignored Google’s (sometimes cringey) pleas to adopt RCS and let go of the age-old and privacy-lacking SMS fallback. It took some regulatory pressure to get Apple to rethink its stance. As for the green bubbles, they will stick around. But they will be good green bubbles.

A more customizable homescreen

At long last, Apple may finally let users arrange apps to their liking. MacRumors reports that you’ll finally be able to leave blank spaces between apps in iOS 18. And Bloomberg has reported that Apple will integrate a theming system into the OS, letting you recolor icons to match each other.

Plenty of app updates

As part of operating system updates for the Mac, iPhone, iPad, and beyond, Apple is also expected to debut new and enhanced versions of its built-in apps. Rumors point to the Calculator app getting a refresh and finally debuting on the iPad, a password manager launching across Apple’s platforms, and redesigns coming to Apple’s messy Settings and Control Center screens.

Mac updates are coming… but maybe not at WWDC

Apple’s redesigned iPad Pro launched in May with a new AI-focused M4 chip — marking the first time an M-series chip did not come first to a Mac. I’m not going to debate what a computer is, but I’d wager we’ll see M4 chips in Macs soon. Apple’s MacBooks are all offered with M3 chips, while the Mac Studio and Mac Pro continue to lag behind with M2 chips.

So far, though, there aren’t any rumors suggesting refreshed machines will show up at WWDC, so we may be waiting until later this year.

Read More 

Workers plant trees at an ecological afforestation demonstration zone on April 11, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images

Big tech companies are increasingly turning to nature to do the dirty work of cleaning up their greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to use plants and ecosystems that naturally absorb CO2 to compensate for industry pollution, a tactic brands have come to call “nature-based carbon removal.”
At first glance, these attempts sound a lot like carbon offset projects that have a checkered past. For decades, companies have purchased credits from offset projects to try to cancel out some portion of their carbon footprint, typically by planting trees, restoring or protecting ecosystems that sequester CO2 through photosynthesis.
It all sounds green and dandy on paper. But studies have shown that this strategy repeatedly fails to have any meaningful impact on climate change and can even lead to more environmental harm. It’s very difficult to measure how much CO2 is stored in nature through processes that can easily be reversed, releasing the greenhouse gas again to heat the planet. Is all this talk of nature-based carbon removal just a rebranding of carbon offset projects that have gotten a bad rap?
Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, for example, are all in on nature-based carbon removal
The answer, of course, is complicated — and depends on whom you ask. At this point, no one denies that there have been problems in the past when it comes to relying on trees to clean up climate pollution. What remains to be seen is whether there can be safeguards put in place to lead to better outcomes or whether we’re simply repeating past mistakes.
Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, for example, are all in on nature-based carbon removal. They collectively committed to purchasing up to 20 million tons of carbon credits from nature-based removal projects last month as part of a newly launched coalition called Symbiosis.
Meanwhile, tech companies’ scramble to develop new AI tools is leading to more greenhouse gas emissions from increasingly energy-hungry data centers. The more these companies try to wipe out that pollution using nature-based initiatives, the higher the stakes if those projects fail. And everyone vulnerable to rising seas and worsening weather disasters could pay the price.
The trouble with planting trees
Rather than changing the way they do business to reduce CO2 emissions, companies have typically purchased offset credits to essentially buy their way out of the problem. Many companies have relied on carbon offset credits from forestry projects to counteract a majority of their carbon pollution. Each credit represents a ton of carbon dioxide pollution avoided by planting a tree or preventing deforestation. The strategy is often criticized as a get-out-of-jail free card if the company isn’t actually reducing its emissions at the same time — especially if it buys junk carbon credits.
When it comes to nature-based carbon removal versus carbon offset initiatives, “It’s exactly the same thing. It’s the same animal,” says Wijnand Stoefs, lead carbon removal expert at the nonprofit watchdog group Carbon Market Watch. “I don’t think [carbon offsets] can ever work.”

Symbiosis, notably, didn’t use the term “offset” in its launch. It says its goal is to rally support for “carbon projects that meet the highest quality bar for planet and people, integrating the most recent science and data on the climate impact of restoration.”
To do that, Symbiosis plans to facilitate deals between carbon removal projects and companies that want to pay for their services. For now, those projects mostly encompass tree-planting on farms, previously deforested areas, and in areas that never had forest at all.
But there’s been backlash recently against big, corporate tree-planting schemes. A World Economic Forum plan to plant a trillion trees, backed by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, rests on research disputed by dozens of scientists. That research, published in the journal Science in 2019, claimed that planting over a trillion trees could draw down up to two thirds of humans’ historical carbon dioxide emissions. The authors ultimately had to issue a correction after more than 40 other researchers said the paper overestimated the potential climate benefits by a factor of 5.
That wasn’t their only qualm. Planting so many trees, especially in places where they haven’t been before, could cause new problems, they wrote. New trees on snowy terrain could actually lead to landscapes that absorb heat, whereas vast expanses of white snow previously reflected the sun’s energy.
A separate study published in the journal Science this year called out a forest restoration campaign in Africa backed by the Bezos Earth Fund and Meta, saying it misclassified grassy ecosystems as deforested areas. Around half of the land targeted for reforestation was never supposed to be forest, according to the study, and were at risk of being razed to make way for trees.
Even when trees are planted in the right place, it can be difficult to quantify the climate benefits. For them to meaningfully slow climate change, they have to live for hundreds of years. Double-counting is another problem — if the company that pays for the associated carbon credits and the country where the trees were planted both count the emissions reductions toward their separate climate goals. Efforts to protect certain tracts of forest in the name of climate change have also inadvertently led to deforestation elsewhere, wiping out the climate gains.
Lessons learned
These problems have been so persistent that even some of the biggest buyers of carbon offset credits have backed off and pivoted to other solutions that might actually prevent CO2 emissions in the first place. A Carbon Market Watch investigation into offset credits offered by eight major European airlines found that nearly all the companies bought offset credits from suspicious forestry projects, for example. Recently, airlines have started to pivot away from relying as heavily on carbon offsetting to meet sustainability goals and say they are instead prioritizing developing more sustainable aviation fuel.
Stoefs is still skeptical that the Symbiosis Coalition can avoid the same pitfalls as previous carbon offset programs with its new nature-based projects. Looking at Symbiosis’ criteria for carbon removal, he says it’s still similar to criteria from old-school carbon offset credit registries. “I think they’re doing offsetting,” Stoefs says. “I think that they’re probably looking for a cheap supply of [credits].”
For its part, Symbiosis says it worked with independent experts to develop its own strict criteria for forestry projects to create “durable, long lasting projects.” It thinks it can drive up demand for carbon credits from projects that might be more costly but have more controls in place to hopefully lead to real-world reductions in carbon dioxide.
“Nature-based projects are complex and challenging to get right and haven’t always lived up to their intended impact. Symbiosis aims to address challenges around nature-based project integrity to date by setting a high-quality bar that builds on best in class market standards and the latest science, data, and best practice,” Symbiosis executive director Julia Strong said in an email to The Verge after Symbiosis launched in late May.
“Nature-based projects are complex and challenging to get right and haven’t always lived up to their intended impact”
The Verge spoke with experts at the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which provided technical expertise in developing Symbiosis’ criteria. They say that the pivot to nature-based carbon removal reflects ways that the carbon market has corrected itself after all the fuss over faulty carbon credits.
Now, after a wave of companies committing to become carbon neutral, there are stricter standards for how they can use carbon credits. Last month, the Biden administration announced new federal guidelines for carbon offset credits. They’re voluntary, but they’re meant to hold companies to higher standards by urging them to take measures like seeking third-party verification.
The Science Based Targets Initiative, a nonprofit that assesses companies’ sustainability pledges, says companies should plan to eliminate at least 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions. That allows for carbon removal to “counterbalance the final 10% or more of residual emissions that cannot be eliminated” through clean energy.
In other words, companies shouldn’t be offsetting more than 10 percent of their carbon footprint. “That idea of using the carbon credits to address what’s leftover is sort of different than the old traditional idea of offsetting. And so we’re starting to see different words for use of carbon credits showing up,” says Campbell Moore, TNC’s managing director of carbon markets.
Hopefully, companies like Microsoft whose emissions have ballooned since making splashy climate pledges in recent years, are taking that to heart. Outside of joining Symbiosis, Microsoft in December signed a 15-year agreement to purchase “high-quality carbon removal” credits from afforestation, which describes tree-planting where there was previously no forest. In 2020, the company said it would strive to take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it produces by the end of the decade. But its emissions have grown 30 percent since making that commitment.
The Nature Conservancy, which Microsoft has funded, also had to make changes to its approach with carbon credits, after a Bloomberg investigation in 2020. It turned out that some of TNC’s forest preservation projects were not actually threatened — so selling credits for “preserving” them didn’t actually lead to additional climate benefits. Since then, Moore says, TNC has developed a new methodology to have a more accurate, dynamic baseline against which additional carbon removal is measured.
“They have had a lot of bad press”
The term “nature-based carbon removal” also signals a pivot away from preserving trees to planting new trees to combat climate change, according to Kirstine Lund Christiansen, a PhD fellow in political ecology at Copenhagen University.
Nature-based carbon removal can be thought of as an umbrella term that incorporates carbon offsetting and other efforts to restore ecosystems that might be divorced from the risky credit business. Companies could opt to restore ecosystems without the climate strings attached — simply for the value of a healthy ecosystem. Doing so would likely be good for the climate anyway — it just wouldn’t be exploited for carbon credits. If companies want to have a clear climate impact, Carbon Market Watch advocates for a “contribution claim model,” in which companies can give funds to less affluent nations so they can more easily afford to switch to clean energy and meet their own climate goals.
“There’s a clear understanding within the market that they have had a lot of bad press,” Christiansen says. “So they need to improve. They need to raise the bar for what is appropriate.”

Workers plant trees at an ecological afforestation demonstration zone on April 11, 2023. | Photo: Getty Images

Big tech companies are increasingly turning to nature to do the dirty work of cleaning up their greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to use plants and ecosystems that naturally absorb CO2 to compensate for industry pollution, a tactic brands have come to call “nature-based carbon removal.”

At first glance, these attempts sound a lot like carbon offset projects that have a checkered past. For decades, companies have purchased credits from offset projects to try to cancel out some portion of their carbon footprint, typically by planting trees, restoring or protecting ecosystems that sequester CO2 through photosynthesis.

It all sounds green and dandy on paper. But studies have shown that this strategy repeatedly fails to have any meaningful impact on climate change and can even lead to more environmental harm. It’s very difficult to measure how much CO2 is stored in nature through processes that can easily be reversed, releasing the greenhouse gas again to heat the planet. Is all this talk of nature-based carbon removal just a rebranding of carbon offset projects that have gotten a bad rap?

The answer, of course, is complicated — and depends on whom you ask. At this point, no one denies that there have been problems in the past when it comes to relying on trees to clean up climate pollution. What remains to be seen is whether there can be safeguards put in place to lead to better outcomes or whether we’re simply repeating past mistakes.

Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce, for example, are all in on nature-based carbon removal. They collectively committed to purchasing up to 20 million tons of carbon credits from nature-based removal projects last month as part of a newly launched coalition called Symbiosis.

Meanwhile, tech companies’ scramble to develop new AI tools is leading to more greenhouse gas emissions from increasingly energy-hungry data centers. The more these companies try to wipe out that pollution using nature-based initiatives, the higher the stakes if those projects fail. And everyone vulnerable to rising seas and worsening weather disasters could pay the price.

The trouble with planting trees

Rather than changing the way they do business to reduce CO2 emissions, companies have typically purchased offset credits to essentially buy their way out of the problem. Many companies have relied on carbon offset credits from forestry projects to counteract a majority of their carbon pollution. Each credit represents a ton of carbon dioxide pollution avoided by planting a tree or preventing deforestation. The strategy is often criticized as a get-out-of-jail free card if the company isn’t actually reducing its emissions at the same time — especially if it buys junk carbon credits.

When it comes to nature-based carbon removal versus carbon offset initiatives, “It’s exactly the same thing. It’s the same animal,” says Wijnand Stoefs, lead carbon removal expert at the nonprofit watchdog group Carbon Market Watch. “I don’t think [carbon offsets] can ever work.”

Symbiosis, notably, didn’t use the term “offset” in its launch. It says its goal is to rally support for “carbon projects that meet the highest quality bar for planet and people, integrating the most recent science and data on the climate impact of restoration.”

To do that, Symbiosis plans to facilitate deals between carbon removal projects and companies that want to pay for their services. For now, those projects mostly encompass tree-planting on farms, previously deforested areas, and in areas that never had forest at all.

But there’s been backlash recently against big, corporate tree-planting schemes. A World Economic Forum plan to plant a trillion trees, backed by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, rests on research disputed by dozens of scientists. That research, published in the journal Science in 2019, claimed that planting over a trillion trees could draw down up to two thirds of humans’ historical carbon dioxide emissions. The authors ultimately had to issue a correction after more than 40 other researchers said the paper overestimated the potential climate benefits by a factor of 5.

That wasn’t their only qualm. Planting so many trees, especially in places where they haven’t been before, could cause new problems, they wrote. New trees on snowy terrain could actually lead to landscapes that absorb heat, whereas vast expanses of white snow previously reflected the sun’s energy.

A separate study published in the journal Science this year called out a forest restoration campaign in Africa backed by the Bezos Earth Fund and Meta, saying it misclassified grassy ecosystems as deforested areas. Around half of the land targeted for reforestation was never supposed to be forest, according to the study, and were at risk of being razed to make way for trees.

Even when trees are planted in the right place, it can be difficult to quantify the climate benefits. For them to meaningfully slow climate change, they have to live for hundreds of years. Double-counting is another problem — if the company that pays for the associated carbon credits and the country where the trees were planted both count the emissions reductions toward their separate climate goals. Efforts to protect certain tracts of forest in the name of climate change have also inadvertently led to deforestation elsewhere, wiping out the climate gains.

Lessons learned

These problems have been so persistent that even some of the biggest buyers of carbon offset credits have backed off and pivoted to other solutions that might actually prevent CO2 emissions in the first place. A Carbon Market Watch investigation into offset credits offered by eight major European airlines found that nearly all the companies bought offset credits from suspicious forestry projects, for example. Recently, airlines have started to pivot away from relying as heavily on carbon offsetting to meet sustainability goals and say they are instead prioritizing developing more sustainable aviation fuel.

Stoefs is still skeptical that the Symbiosis Coalition can avoid the same pitfalls as previous carbon offset programs with its new nature-based projects. Looking at Symbiosis’ criteria for carbon removal, he says it’s still similar to criteria from old-school carbon offset credit registries. “I think they’re doing offsetting,” Stoefs says. “I think that they’re probably looking for a cheap supply of [credits].”

For its part, Symbiosis says it worked with independent experts to develop its own strict criteria for forestry projects to create “durable, long lasting projects.” It thinks it can drive up demand for carbon credits from projects that might be more costly but have more controls in place to hopefully lead to real-world reductions in carbon dioxide.

“Nature-based projects are complex and challenging to get right and haven’t always lived up to their intended impact. Symbiosis aims to address challenges around nature-based project integrity to date by setting a high-quality bar that builds on best in class market standards and the latest science, data, and best practice,” Symbiosis executive director Julia Strong said in an email to The Verge after Symbiosis launched in late May.

The Verge spoke with experts at the nonprofit The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which provided technical expertise in developing Symbiosis’ criteria. They say that the pivot to nature-based carbon removal reflects ways that the carbon market has corrected itself after all the fuss over faulty carbon credits.

Now, after a wave of companies committing to become carbon neutral, there are stricter standards for how they can use carbon credits. Last month, the Biden administration announced new federal guidelines for carbon offset credits. They’re voluntary, but they’re meant to hold companies to higher standards by urging them to take measures like seeking third-party verification.

The Science Based Targets Initiative, a nonprofit that assesses companies’ sustainability pledges, says companies should plan to eliminate at least 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions. That allows for carbon removal to “counterbalance the final 10% or more of residual emissions that cannot be eliminated” through clean energy.

In other words, companies shouldn’t be offsetting more than 10 percent of their carbon footprint. “That idea of using the carbon credits to address what’s leftover is sort of different than the old traditional idea of offsetting. And so we’re starting to see different words for use of carbon credits showing up,” says Campbell Moore, TNC’s managing director of carbon markets.

Hopefully, companies like Microsoft whose emissions have ballooned since making splashy climate pledges in recent years, are taking that to heart. Outside of joining Symbiosis, Microsoft in December signed a 15-year agreement to purchase “high-quality carbon removal” credits from afforestation, which describes tree-planting where there was previously no forest. In 2020, the company said it would strive to take more CO2 out of the atmosphere than it produces by the end of the decade. But its emissions have grown 30 percent since making that commitment.

The Nature Conservancy, which Microsoft has funded, also had to make changes to its approach with carbon credits, after a Bloomberg investigation in 2020. It turned out that some of TNC’s forest preservation projects were not actually threatened — so selling credits for “preserving” them didn’t actually lead to additional climate benefits. Since then, Moore says, TNC has developed a new methodology to have a more accurate, dynamic baseline against which additional carbon removal is measured.

The term “nature-based carbon removal” also signals a pivot away from preserving trees to planting new trees to combat climate change, according to Kirstine Lund Christiansen, a PhD fellow in political ecology at Copenhagen University.

Nature-based carbon removal can be thought of as an umbrella term that incorporates carbon offsetting and other efforts to restore ecosystems that might be divorced from the risky credit business. Companies could opt to restore ecosystems without the climate strings attached — simply for the value of a healthy ecosystem. Doing so would likely be good for the climate anyway — it just wouldn’t be exploited for carbon credits. If companies want to have a clear climate impact, Carbon Market Watch advocates for a “contribution claim model,” in which companies can give funds to less affluent nations so they can more easily afford to switch to clean energy and meet their own climate goals.

“There’s a clear understanding within the market that they have had a lot of bad press,” Christiansen says. “So they need to improve. They need to raise the bar for what is appropriate.”

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Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Since the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act last August, eight companies have already received more than half of the planned government direct funding.
These companies have collectively received $29.34 billion in funding through the CHIPS Act for semiconductor factories across the country. The law, a $280 billion package to support innovation in the US, includes $52 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and was passed last year.
These investments only concern the construction or expansion of semiconductor fabrication facilities and do not include government funding for other chip research facilities.
As of writing, Intel, Micron, Global Foundries, Polar Semiconductor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, BAE Systems, and Microchip Technology have been the direct beneficiaries of the law.

These include projects like Intel’s factories in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, the $20 billion fab in Ohio, and Micron’s $ 100 billion plant in Syracuse, New York, to build memory chips.
Intel received the biggest direct investment through the CHIPS Act, with $8.5 billion for its semiconductor projects. TSMC received $6.6 billion in funding, while Samsung rounded out the top three with $6.4 billion from the US government.
The CHIPS Act is intended to restart the US semiconductor industry and start competing against Chinese dominance in the chip manufacturing space. However, the amount set aside to jumpstart the industry cannot be the only source of capital to bring the US up to speed, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as the goal of the law “was never to provide the semiconductor industry with every dollar it requests.”
Raimondo has said leading-edge chip manufacturers have asked for $70 billion in funding for chip fabrication, more than the government initially expected to spend. She said the department is prioritizing projects that will be operational by 2030 and some “very strong” proposals from companies may never get funding through the act.
Fabricating chips is an expensive affair. TSMC, one of the CHIPS Act beneficiaries, earmarked $44 billion in 2022, up from $31 billion in 2021, just to expand its chip-making capacity.
The Semiconductor Industry Association says in an email to The Verge that the industry garnered more than $450 billion in private investments after the announcement of the CHIPS Act, and it expects it to grow even further.
Demand for chips has grown as generative AI models, which are primarily trained using powerful chips, have also grown in prominence. The US wants to start providing more high-powered chips and even start making next-generation semiconductors. The Biden administration announced in February that it will also start funding research into substrate packaging technologies, which would help create more leading-edge semiconductors.

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Since the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act last August, eight companies have already received more than half of the planned government direct funding.

These companies have collectively received $29.34 billion in funding through the CHIPS Act for semiconductor factories across the country. The law, a $280 billion package to support innovation in the US, includes $52 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and was passed last year.

These investments only concern the construction or expansion of semiconductor fabrication facilities and do not include government funding for other chip research facilities.

As of writing, Intel, Micron, Global Foundries, Polar Semiconductor, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Samsung, BAE Systems, and Microchip Technology have been the direct beneficiaries of the law.

These include projects like Intel’s factories in Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, the $20 billion fab in Ohio, and Micron’s $ 100 billion plant in Syracuse, New York, to build memory chips.

Intel received the biggest direct investment through the CHIPS Act, with $8.5 billion for its semiconductor projects. TSMC received $6.6 billion in funding, while Samsung rounded out the top three with $6.4 billion from the US government.

The CHIPS Act is intended to restart the US semiconductor industry and start competing against Chinese dominance in the chip manufacturing space. However, the amount set aside to jumpstart the industry cannot be the only source of capital to bring the US up to speed, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as the goal of the law “was never to provide the semiconductor industry with every dollar it requests.”

Raimondo has said leading-edge chip manufacturers have asked for $70 billion in funding for chip fabrication, more than the government initially expected to spend. She said the department is prioritizing projects that will be operational by 2030 and some “very strong” proposals from companies may never get funding through the act.

Fabricating chips is an expensive affair. TSMC, one of the CHIPS Act beneficiaries, earmarked $44 billion in 2022, up from $31 billion in 2021, just to expand its chip-making capacity.

The Semiconductor Industry Association says in an email to The Verge that the industry garnered more than $450 billion in private investments after the announcement of the CHIPS Act, and it expects it to grow even further.

Demand for chips has grown as generative AI models, which are primarily trained using powerful chips, have also grown in prominence. The US wants to start providing more high-powered chips and even start making next-generation semiconductors. The Biden administration announced in February that it will also start funding research into substrate packaging technologies, which would help create more leading-edge semiconductors.

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Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft is launching a new Automatic super resolution (Auto SR) feature on its upcoming Copilot Plus PCs that will compete with upscale technologies like Nvidia’s DLSS. The AI-based Auto SR feature will automatically upscale game resolutions and improve frame rates, and Microsoft is now detailing exactly how it’s different to DLSS, XeSS, and FSR.
Auto SR will be integrated into Windows 11, and available on Copilot Plus devices that have a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). It’s designed to work with existing games with no manual configurations required and no need for game developers to change how their games are rendered.
“Auto SR is different from super resolution technologies like AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, Intel XeSS, and NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution built into games,” says the DirectX team in a blog post. “These approaches require games to alter their rendering, for example, by using jitter and MIP bias to add finer details. In contrast, Auto SR tackles the task of enhancing games without the extra information to improve games as they exist today.”

Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s example of Auto SR upscaling a game at 720p (right) and improving the frame rate.

Auto SR uses larger on-device AI models combined with the NPU on Copilot Plus devices to apply AI enhancements to game visuals, all while rendering a game at a lower resolution to improve frame rates. Microsoft is offloading the work directly to the NPU here so it’s not even hitting the GPU to get upscaling working. “This strategic shift not only improves framerates but also enhances the energy efficiency of each frame rendered, significantly boosting the overall gaming experience,” says the DirectX team.
There is a slight latency tradeoff, though. “While running our large model, Auto SR introduces a single frame of latency on average as it uses AI to significantly boost your game’s visuals,” admits Microsoft. We’ll have to test this fully to see if that single frame is noticeable, and which games it impacts more than others.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs are launching later this month.

At launch on June 18th, Microsoft is only automatically enhancing 11 games that have been tested to improve visual quality, framerates, or a combination of both. Borderlands 3, Control (DX11), Dark Souls III, God of War, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 and The Witcher 3, are all on the launch list that have been verified by Microsoft.
That list will grow over time, and it’s easy to toggle the Auto SR feature on or off and adjust settings for individual games. Microsoft says you can also “explore this feature on additional untested games,” and force the setting on. “There may be some quirks and we can’t guarantee it will apply or improve your experience,” warns Microsoft.
The first set of Copilot Plus PCs are set to launch on June 18th with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips, so it won’t be long until we see how well Microsoft’s Auto SR works in reality. The feature will also eventually be available on new AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot Plus PCs, although it sounds like these machines won’t have Copilot Plus AI features until a post-launch update ships.
Microsoft is now working on Auto SR improvements, including support for HDR and multiple-monitor configurations. “As we continue to explore Auto SR capabilities, we look forward to exploring bringing Auto SR to more devices and a broader selection of x64 emulated games,” says the DirectX team.

Illustration: The Verge

Microsoft is launching a new Automatic super resolution (Auto SR) feature on its upcoming Copilot Plus PCs that will compete with upscale technologies like Nvidia’s DLSS. The AI-based Auto SR feature will automatically upscale game resolutions and improve frame rates, and Microsoft is now detailing exactly how it’s different to DLSS, XeSS, and FSR.

Auto SR will be integrated into Windows 11, and available on Copilot Plus devices that have a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). It’s designed to work with existing games with no manual configurations required and no need for game developers to change how their games are rendered.

“Auto SR is different from super resolution technologies like AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution, Intel XeSS, and NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution built into games,” says the DirectX team in a blog post. “These approaches require games to alter their rendering, for example, by using jitter and MIP bias to add finer details. In contrast, Auto SR tackles the task of enhancing games without the extra information to improve games as they exist today.”

Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s example of Auto SR upscaling a game at 720p (right) and improving the frame rate.

Auto SR uses larger on-device AI models combined with the NPU on Copilot Plus devices to apply AI enhancements to game visuals, all while rendering a game at a lower resolution to improve frame rates. Microsoft is offloading the work directly to the NPU here so it’s not even hitting the GPU to get upscaling working. “This strategic shift not only improves framerates but also enhances the energy efficiency of each frame rendered, significantly boosting the overall gaming experience,” says the DirectX team.

There is a slight latency tradeoff, though. “While running our large model, Auto SR introduces a single frame of latency on average as it uses AI to significantly boost your game’s visuals,” admits Microsoft. We’ll have to test this fully to see if that single frame is noticeable, and which games it impacts more than others.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge
Microsoft’s Copilot Plus PCs are launching later this month.

At launch on June 18th, Microsoft is only automatically enhancing 11 games that have been tested to improve visual quality, framerates, or a combination of both. Borderlands 3, Control (DX11), Dark Souls III, God of War, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 and The Witcher 3, are all on the launch list that have been verified by Microsoft.

That list will grow over time, and it’s easy to toggle the Auto SR feature on or off and adjust settings for individual games. Microsoft says you can also “explore this feature on additional untested games,” and force the setting on. “There may be some quirks and we can’t guarantee it will apply or improve your experience,” warns Microsoft.

The first set of Copilot Plus PCs are set to launch on June 18th with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips, so it won’t be long until we see how well Microsoft’s Auto SR works in reality. The feature will also eventually be available on new AMD- and Intel-powered Copilot Plus PCs, although it sounds like these machines won’t have Copilot Plus AI features until a post-launch update ships.

Microsoft is now working on Auto SR improvements, including support for HDR and multiple-monitor configurations. “As we continue to explore Auto SR capabilities, we look forward to exploring bringing Auto SR to more devices and a broader selection of x64 emulated games,” says the DirectX team.

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Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Apple is planning to introduce a new app called Passwords to help users manage their login information, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company will reportedly introduce the device at its Worldwide Developers Conference event next week.
Apple already lets you save your passwords across your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro using iCloud Keychain. The new app would sync the same way but with logins separated into different categories, such as accounts, Wi-Fi networks, and passkeys. However, Bloomberg says the new Passwords app would extend support for Windows as well — there’s no word about support for Android.
The new app is expected to make its debut in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. As noted by Bloomberg, Passwords will be able to generate and store passwords, similar to password managers such as LastPass and 1Password.

Other features highlighted by Bloomberg include autofill for usernames and passwords, as well as the ability to create authentication codes, like Google Authenticator.
Apple is expected to reveal a bunch of new features during WWDC on June 10th, with rumors pointing to new AI features for the iPhone in iOS 18, along with a major overhaul for Siri.

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

Apple is planning to introduce a new app called Passwords to help users manage their login information, according to a report from Bloomberg. The company will reportedly introduce the device at its Worldwide Developers Conference event next week.

Apple already lets you save your passwords across your iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro using iCloud Keychain. The new app would sync the same way but with logins separated into different categories, such as accounts, Wi-Fi networks, and passkeys. However, Bloomberg says the new Passwords app would extend support for Windows as well — there’s no word about support for Android.

The new app is expected to make its debut in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15. As noted by Bloomberg, Passwords will be able to generate and store passwords, similar to password managers such as LastPass and 1Password.

Other features highlighted by Bloomberg include autofill for usernames and passwords, as well as the ability to create authentication codes, like Google Authenticator.

Apple is expected to reveal a bunch of new features during WWDC on June 10th, with rumors pointing to new AI features for the iPhone in iOS 18, along with a major overhaul for Siri.

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Photo: Janus Films

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Akira Kurosawa’s black-and-white epic Seven Samurai is coming back to theaters with a new 4K restoration.
Arguably the crowning achievement of one of the world’s most lauded filmmakers, the film depicts a small village in the 16th century that is threatened by bandits. To protect themselves from the invaders, the farmers go in search of ronin — master-less samurai for hire — who can ward off the marauders and keep the village safe.

One of the film’s co-writers, Shinobu Hashimoto, found the process of putting together Seven Samurai so exhausting that he checked himself into a hospital. “I thought I’d never be able to write anything as good ever again,” he said. “On the other hand, I thought since writing it was so difficult, and I survived, I could write anything.”
It was also a tremendously expensive film, especially for the 1950s, with a budget estimated between $150,000 and $200,000 — far above the $70,000 average of Japanese films of that era. During filming, Kurosawa had to stop production after he realized he had run through his funding only a third of the way through the shoot. The entire shoot lasted nearly a year.
Still, Seven Samurai proved well worth it, becoming a box office success in Japan and, in the 70 years since its release, now considered one of the greatest films of all time.
The 4K restoration debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. In New York, the movie opens at Film Forum on July 5th; in Los Angeles, the premiere will be on July 7th at the Egyptian Theatre, with an opening at Laemmle Royal to follow on July 12th.

Photo: Janus Films

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, Akira Kurosawa’s black-and-white epic Seven Samurai is coming back to theaters with a new 4K restoration.

Arguably the crowning achievement of one of the world’s most lauded filmmakers, the film depicts a small village in the 16th century that is threatened by bandits. To protect themselves from the invaders, the farmers go in search of ronin — master-less samurai for hire — who can ward off the marauders and keep the village safe.

One of the film’s co-writers, Shinobu Hashimoto, found the process of putting together Seven Samurai so exhausting that he checked himself into a hospital. “I thought I’d never be able to write anything as good ever again,” he said. “On the other hand, I thought since writing it was so difficult, and I survived, I could write anything.”

It was also a tremendously expensive film, especially for the 1950s, with a budget estimated between $150,000 and $200,000 — far above the $70,000 average of Japanese films of that era. During filming, Kurosawa had to stop production after he realized he had run through his funding only a third of the way through the shoot. The entire shoot lasted nearly a year.

Still, Seven Samurai proved well worth it, becoming a box office success in Japan and, in the 70 years since its release, now considered one of the greatest films of all time.

The 4K restoration debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. In New York, the movie opens at Film Forum on July 5th; in Los Angeles, the premiere will be on July 7th at the Egyptian Theatre, with an opening at Laemmle Royal to follow on July 12th.

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Illustration: The Verge

eBay will no longer accept American Express payments starting August 17th, the company announced on Wednesday. It blames the change on the “unacceptably high fees” for Amex credit card transactions.
“Credit card transaction fees continue to rise unabated because of a lack of meaningful competition,” eBay writes in a notice to customers. “There is a need for more robust regulations to drive greater competition to credit card networks and help reduce transaction processing costs.” eBay still accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and other payment methods, like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo.
Amex disagrees with eBay’s move, stating on its website that its fees are similar to other cards accepted by eBay. “We find eBay’s decision to drop American Express as a payment choice for consumers to be inconsistent with their stated desire to increase competition at the point of sale,” the company writes. It says eBay represents less than 0.2 percent of its total network volume.
We’ve seen other disputes among retailers and credit card companies unfold in the past, with Amazon nearly dropping support for Visa in the UK in 2022.

Illustration: The Verge

eBay will no longer accept American Express payments starting August 17th, the company announced on Wednesday. It blames the change on the “unacceptably high fees” for Amex credit card transactions.

“Credit card transaction fees continue to rise unabated because of a lack of meaningful competition,” eBay writes in a notice to customers. “There is a need for more robust regulations to drive greater competition to credit card networks and help reduce transaction processing costs.” eBay still accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and other payment methods, like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Venmo.

Amex disagrees with eBay’s move, stating on its website that its fees are similar to other cards accepted by eBay. “We find eBay’s decision to drop American Express as a payment choice for consumers to be inconsistent with their stated desire to increase competition at the point of sale,” the company writes. It says eBay represents less than 0.2 percent of its total network volume.

We’ve seen other disputes among retailers and credit card companies unfold in the past, with Amazon nearly dropping support for Visa in the UK in 2022.

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Image: Microsoft

Microsoft’s new Windows AI features, like Auto Super Resolution for smoother gaming, aren’t exclusive to Qualcomm — Intel’s Lunar Lake and AMD’s Strix Point chips will have enough AI co-processing performance, too. But when Intel and AMD’s new Copilot Plus PCs arrive this fall, no one is promising they’ll ship with all or even any of the new AI features.

Each of those laptops will require free software updates before they get Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI features, and those updates won’t necessarily even arrive before the end of 2024.
“Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix PCs are Windows 11 AI PCs that meet our Copilot+ PC hardware requirements. We are partnering closely with Intel and AMD to deliver Copilot+ PC experiences through free updates, when available,” reads a statement from Microsoft marketing manager James Howell to The Verge.
“Lunar Lake will get the Copilot+ experiences via an update when available,” Intel PR manager Thomas Hannaford similarly tells me.
Nvidia told us something nearly identical about its own Copilot-ready machines this weekend: “These Windows 11 AI PCs will receive a free update to Copilot+ PC experiences when available.”
AMD PR manager Matthew Hurwitz could also not confirm its laptops will have the features at launch. “We expect to have Copilot+ experiences by the end of 2024,” he told me.

Interesting note with the PC launches happening this week… It looks like that only the systems with Snapdragon CPUs will support the Copilot+ PC features out of the box. I’m hearing that even if new AMD/Intel laptops ship in July with high perf NPUs, the sw won’t be enabled. pic.twitter.com/CP4jFHYn72— Ryan Shrout (@ryanshrout) June 3, 2024

Will Intel have them within 2024 at least? Neither Intel nor Microsoft would say when we probed. But all three Qualcomm rivals (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) want you to know that other existing AI features already run on their chips, and hundreds more are coming from independent software companies.
I also don’t want to suggest a delay would be a bad thing — in fact, security experts are warning that Microsoft’s new Recall feature, which takes screenshots of everything you do on your computer as a generative AI memory aid, could be a disaster for security. They’re pushing Microsoft to rethink that plan. Microsoft has not answered The Verge’s questions about Recall security yet.
And from a more basic computing standpoint, reviewers haven’t yet had a chance to validate the battery life and performance claims of this new wave of AI PCs, even Qualcomm’s. I would not personally rush to buy a Copilot Plus PC from any provider until the experts have time to weigh in.

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft’s new Windows AI features, like Auto Super Resolution for smoother gaming, aren’t exclusive to Qualcomm — Intel’s Lunar Lake and AMD’s Strix Point chips will have enough AI co-processing performance, too. But when Intel and AMD’s new Copilot Plus PCs arrive this fall, no one is promising they’ll ship with all or even any of the new AI features.

Each of those laptops will require free software updates before they get Microsoft’s Copilot Plus AI features, and those updates won’t necessarily even arrive before the end of 2024.

“Intel Lunar Lake and AMD Strix PCs are Windows 11 AI PCs that meet our Copilot+ PC hardware requirements. We are partnering closely with Intel and AMD to deliver Copilot+ PC experiences through free updates, when available,” reads a statement from Microsoft marketing manager James Howell to The Verge.

“Lunar Lake will get the Copilot+ experiences via an update when available,” Intel PR manager Thomas Hannaford similarly tells me.

Nvidia told us something nearly identical about its own Copilot-ready machines this weekend: “These Windows 11 AI PCs will receive a free update to Copilot+ PC experiences when available.”

AMD PR manager Matthew Hurwitz could also not confirm its laptops will have the features at launch. “We expect to have Copilot+ experiences by the end of 2024,” he told me.

Will Intel have them within 2024 at least? Neither Intel nor Microsoft would say when we probed. But all three Qualcomm rivals (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) want you to know that other existing AI features already run on their chips, and hundreds more are coming from independent software companies.

I also don’t want to suggest a delay would be a bad thing — in fact, security experts are warning that Microsoft’s new Recall feature, which takes screenshots of everything you do on your computer as a generative AI memory aid, could be a disaster for security. They’re pushing Microsoft to rethink that plan. Microsoft has not answered The Verge’s questions about Recall security yet.

And from a more basic computing standpoint, reviewers haven’t yet had a chance to validate the battery life and performance claims of this new wave of AI PCs, even Qualcomm’s. I would not personally rush to buy a Copilot Plus PC from any provider until the experts have time to weigh in.

Read More