Businesses Reshape Tech with AI PCs to Stay Competitive

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is not just changing industries and redefining work; it's now turning its attention to a tool that's been somewhat overlooked: your work laptop. While many of us have played around with ChatGPT for tasks like proofreading or debugging code, that's just scratching the surface of what large language models (LLMs) can do. These models, which power chatbots and other AI tools, have far-reaching capabilities that are only beginning to be explored.

Take HCLTech, for example, a consulting firm that partnered with one of the largest end-to-end healthcare providers in the US to develop a user-friendly, compliant AI clinical advisor. This tool, trained on one of the world's largest clinical libraries, allows medical professionals to quickly access the information they need through conversational queries, saving them from time-consuming searches.

Alan Flower, EVP and head of AI & Cloud Native Labs at HCLTech, emphasized the importance of running these models locally on the device. "By using the clinician's laptop, it not only frees up their time but also ensures the privacy and security of patient information," Flower explained. "Plus, it's cost-effective because we're not using expensive cloud resources; instead, we're leveraging the neural processing unit (NPU) on an AI PC, which is essentially free."

Since implementing the AI clinical advisor, doctors have saved about three minutes per 20-minute consultation, allowing them to focus more on patient care. This example illustrates how AI can enhance productivity and efficiency when integrated into everyday tools like laptops.

As companies realize the benefits of running AI models locally, there's a growing need to upgrade employee laptops. This has sparked a hardware revolution, shifting the focus from an afterthought to a priority, and attracting significant investment. According to researcher IDC, AI PCs designed for local generative AI tasks are expected to grow from nearly 50 million units in 2024 to over 167 million by 2027, representing almost 60% of all PC shipments worldwide. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2026, 63% of all PCs will be AI-enabled.

This surge in PC investment aligns with a broader trend over the past decade, where factors like improved design—from bulky laptops to sleek ultrabooks—have driven up the average selling price of PCs. Linn Huang, research vice president of devices and displays at IDC, noted that "AI PCs will undoubtedly accelerate this trend as new AI-enabled workloads and features enter the market."

What sets AI PCs apart from traditional ones is the inclusion of an NPU, which is specifically designed to handle AI tasks efficiently, allowing models to run directly on the device. This local processing offers benefits in terms of cost, privacy, and security. Unlike most AI products that send data to the cloud for processing, running models locally keeps data within the organization, reducing the risk of data breaches and enhancing control over sensitive information. This is particularly crucial for industries like financial services and healthcare, where privacy and regulatory compliance are paramount.

Mike Bechtel, managing director and chief futurist at Deloitte Consulting LLP, emphasized the necessity of on-device AI for these sectors. "For them, an on-device AI computer isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have for fiduciary and HIPAA reasons," he said.

Running AI models locally also reduces lag, creating a smoother user experience, which is vital for optimizing business applications. This speed is a key factor in the appeal of AI solutions like chatbots, which need to respond quickly to user inputs.

Device manufacturers are responding to this demand for AI PCs. Microsoft, a major player in the AI market and a partner of OpenAI, has introduced a new hardware category called Copilot+PCs, developed in collaboration with companies like HP, Dell, and Lenovo. Mark Linton, vice president of device partner sales at Microsoft, noted strong interest from business leaders in these new devices. "Leaders are focused on integrating on-device AI capabilities into their broader AI strategies," Linton said. "Adoption rates are 20 times faster than touch PC adoption, showing the urgency of this transformation."

The benefits of AI PCs extend beyond running AI models. They also improve overall system performance by offloading AI tasks to the NPU, reducing the load on the CPU and GPU. This can prevent overheating and slowdowns, which are common when using power-intensive applications. Alex Thatcher, senior director of AI experiences at HP Inc., highlighted that "AI PCs deliver significant performance improvements for the apps users already use, leveraging new CPU, GPU, and NPU architectures. They also improve battery life due to the inclusion of small cores and highly power-efficient NPUs."

As businesses approach their hardware refresh cycles, accelerated by factors like Microsoft's end of support for Windows 10, the question arises: should they opt for legacy or AI-capable devices? Industry experts like Flower and Bechtel strongly advocate for AI-capable PCs due to their productivity advantages. "It's a no-brainer," Bechtel said. "Make sure your next wave of capital expenditure includes these capabilities, or you'll be looking at another refresh in a couple of years."

As more companies adopt AI-capable computers, the premium price of AI PCs is expected to decrease. Flower pointed out that the performance gains justify any initial cost difference. "In high-value professions, the productivity gain is so significant that the small premium you pay for an AI-enhanced device is quickly offset," he said.

Upgrading to AI-capable technology keeps companies at the forefront of innovation, providing the flexibility to invest in AI applications now or in the future. As more businesses make this shift, it paves the way for deeper AI integration into business processes, creating an ecosystem where AI applications drive hardware upgrades, and those upgrades, in turn, accelerate AI adoption across the workforce, transforming industries and reshaping how professionals work.