Microsoft Scraps Copilot+ Branding Amid Security Concerns

Microsoft's Copilot+ branding has been largely absent from its latest Surface products. Two years ago, the company introduced the term to denote PCs with added AI processing power, often provided by a neural processing unit (NPU). However, researchers quickly discovered that the user assistant recall feature was a security nightmare.

Since 2024, mentions of Copilot+ have decreased significantly, and its partner Qualcomm is also stepping back from the branding. Windows Central Insider interviewed Surface CVP Brett Ostrum, who said 'these are not called Copilot+ PCs.'

Qualcomm's SVP of compute, Kedar Kondap, elaborated on the purpose of Copilot+, stating that it was to deliver NPU experiences with a certain bar and metric, like 45 TOPS NPU. However, he said that now they are offering the same experiences without using the Copilot+ PC terminology.

AI continues to play a major role in data centers, but PC manufacturers seem less interested in using Microsoft's branding for now.