If you’ve bought a laptop in the last couple of years, you’ve probably heard some marketing guff about the super-cool NPU inside of it. What you haven’t heard much of is what that NPU can actually do, since most of those flashy AI capabilities rely on remote data centers and most of the “AI” apps that run on your local hardware aren’t even using it yet. That’s about to change, according to Microsoft.
As part of this year’s Ignite developer conference, Microsoft says Windows 11’s built-in search function will be accelerated by the NPU in Copilot+ laptops and other hardware. According to the announcement, the improved version of search will come to the broader Windows Search (the thing that lives in the Start menu) as well as more granular searches in File Explorer and Settings.
“Users will be able to find the right files, including documents and photos, without needing to remember file names or exact file content. Users will be able to search for local documents by describing their content or using synonyms of content in documents,” says the press release. And because it runs locally, this new capability won’t be dependent upon an internet connection.
The most useful capability mentioned is the ability to “search by image content, including any text found in an image.” I can think of a lot of different better-save-this-just-in-case document photos I have in my Dropbox folder that would be a lot easier to track down this way.
Windows’ ability to search local files and their contents definitely leaves a lot to be desired in its current form. As the press release says, if you can’t remember the file name or its approximate location in the folder hierarchy, you’re basically out of luck.
That said, the announcement is nebulous enough that I wouldn’t hold my breath for a huge improvement, especially in terms of speed. I’m guessing Windows will need to process each image in your personal folders for both content and context, otherwise the AI-bolstered search would slow to a crawl, with or without an NPU.
But that’s one prediction I’d be happy to get wrong. We’ll find out in early 2025. The new Windows Search is coming to all Copilot+ PCs eventually, but Snapdragon machines will get the first test via the Windows Insider program.
