GADGET GURU

T3’s advice sommelier dispenses answers with a luscious bouquet

The C64 didn’t have a Copilot key, and was all the better for it.

ILLUSTRATIONS: STEPHEN KELLY

Q GRAHAM WESTERLEIGH, PENGE

Why are all new PCs ‘AI-powered’?

A A few reasons. You may detect the distinct whiff of marketing guff in the air, and that’s reason number one. Microsoft has noticed that its Copilot AI is a good way to coax subscription fees out of businesses, and thus has mandated that a Copilot key be rolled out to new Windows laptops. How else would you remind the useless animated skeletons operating them that a robot is coming for their jobs?

That’s the second point – businesses are somehow convinced that AI will be their saviour. Of course they’re going to want to buy ‘AI-powered’ hardware, even though that’s not really a thing that means anything. It’ll surely make them faster to market, streamline processes, and allow them to lay off pointless fleshy bean counters. Don’t need to buy a laptop for an empty desk. That’s a saving!

None of this accounts for the fact that the bubble is just about to pop. The klaxon was well and truly

How else would you remind the useless animated skeletons operating them that a robot is coming for their jobs? sounded when Japan’s Softbank recently dumped the entirety of its stock in AI lynchpin Nvidia, to the tune of billions. While AI isn’t likely to go the way of the NFT – GaGu would be surprised to see LLMs ever truly disappearing – its rapid expansion and subsequent position as a selling point is unlikely to continue for much longer.