Microsoft’s Copilot+PC AI Recall feature can run on older hardware

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One of the headline features of Microsoft’s recently unveiled Copilot+PC platform is the AI-powered ‘Recall‘ feature. Surprisingly, the feature has already been cracked to run on older, unsupported hardware, calling into question some of Microsoft’s claims about Copilot+PCs.

As spotted by The Verge, a Windows tinkerer who goes by the name ‘Albacore’ posted on Mastodon that they got Recall working on a device with a Snapdragon 7c+ Gen3 chip with only 3.4GB of RAM and “no NPU in sight.” Albacore went on to say that Recall is “surprisingly good even on something this low spec.”

Albacore also created a tool called Amperage to enable Recall on existing Windows devices. However, for the time being, it only works with devices using ARM chips, such as older Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, Microsoft’s SQ chips or Ampere. It also requires the lastest Windows 11 24H2 update installed. Running the tool will unlock and enable Recall.

The Verge reports that technically, Recall can be unlocked on devices with x86 processors (e.g. Intel and AMD chips). However, Recall doesn’t work because Microsoft has only published the required AI components for Windows on ARM, and without those components, Recall won’t work. But that will likely change soon since Intel and AMD both likely have new chips on the way to power Copilot+PCs.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Recall getting cracked to run on older hardware is what it says about Microsoft’s NPU requirements. Neural processing units (NPUs) have been used to power various artificial intelligence features for years, but more recently, there’s been a lot of hype around them in laptops. Part of that is because Microsoft is pushing an AI PC narrative and touting the benefits of using NPUs to run AI on-device. The company’s Copilot+PCs require an NPU capable of 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS), supposedly to power on-device AI features like Recall. But if Recall runs fine on a low-spec laptop without an NPU, then why the requirement?

The Verge says Microsoft will likely say the requirement is for future AI features beyond Recall, but also points to the fact that analysts think AI PCs will grow the market this year, suggesting that — like many AI-related things — it’s all about marketing.

Source: Albacore (Mastodon) Via: The Verge

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