Microsoft opens Windows 11 AI features to Nvidia GPUs, breaking Copilot+ exclusivity

Microsoft is now letting Nvidia GPUs run local AI features that were locked to Copilot+ PCs

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. The big picture: Microsoft is easing one of the strict lines it previously drew around Copilot+ PCs, allowing more Windows 11 machines to run local AI workloads with the right GPU. An update shows that systems equipped with Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs or newer, with at least 6GB of VRAM, can now support Windows' local language model APIs. On paper, it's a small, developer-only tweak, but it suggests Microsoft may be rethinking how tightly it ties on-device AI to Copilot+ branding. When Copilot+ PCs launched on June 18, 2024, the messaging was clear: dedicated AI hardware was essential. These machines were defined in part by their neural processing units, along with baseline specs such as 16GB of RAM and solid-state storage. The NPU requirement, in particular, was positioned as the key to unlocking local AI features in Windows. But NPUs are not the only chips capable of handling AI workloads. GPUs, especially modern ones, are built for heavy parallel processing and have long been used to run machine learning models. In practical terms, they can offer more raw throughput for many AI workloads than today's NPUs, though typically at a higher power cost. Until now, Microsoft had kept most of its built-in AI features tied to NPU-equipped devices. That left many powerful GPU-based PCs unable to access local text and image generation, as well as features like Windows Recall and other AI tools. Now that gap is starting to close. In updated documentation and a GitHub post, Microsoft confirmed that developers can now run language model APIs on non-Copilot+ PCs using supported GPUs. The company described the feature this way: "Language Model APIs on GPU [Experimental]. The Language Model APIs now run on non-Copilot+ PCs equipped with a supported GPU, bringing local language model capabilities to a broader range of Windows 11 devices." It also specified that "supported hardware includes NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series and newer with 6+ GB VRAM." For now, this capability is still tucked inside the developer layer rather than exposed directly to everyday users. Running these APIs requires building or using applications that tap into the Windows AI framework. Still, it sets the stage for local AI to reach a much wider range of Windows machines. At the center of this is a small on-device model called Phi Silica. Instead of being pre-installed on all systems, it can be downloaded through Windows Update when an app requires it. Once installed, the model runs locally on the machine's hardware, using the GPU when available. The current feature set is focused on text-based tasks. Through the Windows.AI.Text APIs, apps can summarize content, rewrite text, convert text into structured formats, and generate prompts. The functionality is similar to what users might expect from cloud-based AI tools, but it all runs locally on the device. Running everything locally has practical benefits. It reduces reliance on cloud processing, which can improve responsiveness, and keeps data on the machine rather than sending it to external servers. For developers and enterprise users, that could make a meaningful difference in how AI features are adopted. Still, the rollout is partial. Some of the more visible Copilot+ features, including Windows Recall and Click to Do, remain tied to systems with NPUs. GPU support, at least for now, is limited to the language model API layer rather than the broader suite of AI integrations. Even with those limits, the trend is hard to miss. Microsoft is no longer treating NPUs as the only path to local AI on Windows. Letting GPUs take on these workloads broadens the pool of compatible hardware and makes Copilot+ PCs feel less exclusive than they did at launch.

Microsoft is bringing AI features to more Windows 11 PCs -- just in case you were under the impression that AI was being cut back

There's no need for an NPU for certain AI features now, as an Nvidia GPU will do the job * Microsoft has made a notable move with the Windows App SDK * It's allowing some AI powers to run on non-Copilot+ PCs without an NPU, using an Nvidia GPU instead * This is an experimental move for now, but it suggests a wider drive to bring more AI capabilities to all Windows 11 PCs, not just Copilot+ models Microsoft is planning to bring AI features to a wider set of Windows 11 PCs, allowing devices with suitably beefy GPUs to avail themselves of local AI functionality that's currently restricted to Copilot+ PCs with a fast NPU. Windows Latest spotted that Microsoft has a new feature in testing -- marked as experimental -- for the Windows App SDK, which allows developers to run local language models (AI features) on non-Copilot+ PCs by using a GPU. Microsoft stated: "The Language Model APIs now run on non-Copilot+ PCs equipped with a supported GPU, bringing local language model capabilities to a broader range of Windows 11 devices. Supported hardware includes Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series and newer with 6+ GB vRAM." What does this mean in practice? If you're thinking that all Windows 11 PCs are going to get the full range of exclusive Copilot+ AI features -- like Recall for example -- that isn't the case. What this is about is allowing software developers to let their apps tap into certain AI features on any Windows 11 PC with a qualifying GPU. As Windows Latest points out, the move will mean that non-Copilot+ PCs can access Microsoft's Phi Silica small language model and use it locally (on the device, as opposed to reaching out to the cloud) not with an NPU, but with an appropriate Nvidia graphics card (with 6GB of video RAM) instead. This will allow for basic AI abilities such as rewriting or summarizing text to be carried out within apps where the developer codes for this, outside of the Copilot+ PCs where this would normally be restricted to. Analysis: an agentic future The theory is that this is just the initial step, and Microsoft is going to push for the wider deployment of other AI features to non-Copilot PCs. It also addresses a frustration that was aired in the very early days of Copilot+ PCs, when I remember a bunch of people questioning why Microsoft limited these AI features to devices with NPUs, when a decent GPU was easily capable of accelerating these on-device AI workloads. This was an arbitrary restriction, of course, but now the questioning shifts to a different line: exactly how many AI powers will Microsoft allow to be pushed onto non-Copilot+ PCs. Of course, it's notable of late that Microsoft isn't talking about Copilot+ PCs anymore -- the brand didn't even get a mention at the company's recent Build conference. AI was very much still a hot topic, of course, and Microsoft appears to be shifting its angle from pushing a specific hardware brand to more widely promoting AI agents, which are to be the next big thing (AI-wise) in Windows 11. If you thought Microsoft was cutting back on AI in Windows 11, then, this is another sign that the company is going very much in the other direction, and driving to get more AI features onto a wider array of PCs. When Microsoft initially talked about cutting back on AI bloat -- when the fix Windows 11 campaign was first announced -- what it really meant was reducing some of the AI-related clutter in certain menus for the OS along with core apps. A trimming of excesses, basically, and away from that, AI remains a key focus for Microsoft, of course -- with this latest move underlining that fact. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.

Your Windows 11 PC can now natively run AI workloads, even if it lacks the Copilot+ badge

For the better part of a year, Microsoft has been telling us that the future of AI on Windows belongs to Copilot+ PCs. If you wanted Microsoft's most advanced local AI features, you needed a machine with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU). That was the deal. Now, Microsoft appears to be rewriting the rules. According to updated documentation, Windows 11's local Language Model APIs can now run on non-Copilot+ PCs, provided they have an Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-series GPU (or newer) with at least 6GB of VRAM. On the surface, this sounds like a developer-focused update. In reality, it could be one of the most significant shifts in Microsoft's AI PC strategy since Copilot+ PCs launched last year. More importantly, it raises a question that has been lingering ever since the AI PC era began: Did we really need NPUs for all of this in the first place? The CoPilot+ exclusivity era was always a little awkward When Copilot+ PCs debuted in June 2024, Microsoft positioned them as the gateway to local AI experiences on Windows. To qualify, a device needed 16GB of RAM, SSD storage, and an NPU capable of delivering at least 40 TOPS of AI performance. The messaging suggested that these specialized chips were essential for running AI workloads locally. While that's true in terms of efficiency, it never told the full story. Recommended Videos Anyone familiar with AI hardware already knew that GPUs were more than capable of handling these workloads. In fact, modern graphics cards are often significantly more powerful than NPUs for running language models and generative AI applications. That's why most enthusiasts experimenting with local AI tools, from small language models to image generators, have been relying on GPUs for years. Yet Windows' native AI experiences remained locked behind the Copilot+ badge. That created an odd situation. A gaming PC with an RTX 4070 had more than enough horsepower to run AI models locally, but it couldn't access Microsoft's native AI framework because it lacked an NPU. Meanwhile, a thinner laptop with a qualifying NPU could. This latest change doesn't completely erase that divide, but it certainly makes it look thinner than ever. Microsoft may be laying the groundwork for AI beyond NPUs The newly expanded Language Model APIs allow developers to tap into local AI capabilities on supported Nvidia hardware. Microsoft says these APIs can now run on non-Copilot+ systems equipped with RTX 30-series GPUs or newer, provided they have at least 6GB of VRAM. These APIs are powered by Phi Silica, Microsoft's compact on-device language model. Applications can use it for tasks such as summarizing text, rewriting content, converting text into tables, formatting information, and generating responses from prompts. Think of it as a lightweight, local version of the AI features people typically associate with services like ChatGPT. The difference is that everything runs directly on the device rather than in the cloud. That's important for two reasons. First, privacy -- if AI processing stays on your PC, sensitive documents, notes, emails, and drafts don't have to leave the machine. Second, performance -- local AI features can run instantly without waiting for cloud servers, subscriptions, or an internet connection. The interesting part is how Microsoft plans to distribute these capabilities. If an app needs Phi Silica, Windows can download the required model through Windows Update and run it locally using supported hardware. So, the operating system is beginning to treat AI models like another Windows component rather than a premium feature reserved for a specific class of PCs. That's a notable philosophical shift. The beginning of the end for CoPilot+ exclusives? Before you get too excited, this doesn't mean every AI feature is suddenly coming to older Windows machines. Features such as Recall, Click to Do, and some of Microsoft's AI-powered creative tools still appear tied to systems with NPUs. The newly expanded support currently applies to Language Model APIs, which are primarily focused on text-based AI experiences. Still, history suggests these walls rarely stay up forever. Once Microsoft demonstrates that local AI can run effectively on mainstream RTX hardware, it becomes harder to justify why certain AI experiences must remain exclusive to NPUs. Developers won't care whether the AI workload is running on an NPU or a GPU as long as the experience works well. Consumers certainly won't. That's why this update feels more significant than the documentation change might suggest. For now, it's just one API. But it also represents Microsoft's first meaningful step toward acknowledging something many PC enthusiasts have been saying all along: capable GPUs were never the problem. And if local AI can run perfectly well on millions of existing RTX-powered PCs, the distinction between a "Copilot+ PC" and a regular Windows PC may start to matter a lot less than Microsoft originally hoped.