Windows 11 will display a message on the screens of systems incompatible with the new AI features

After ads in the Start menu, Microsoft is also preparing to introduce a “watermark” that will be displayed on the screens of PC users who do not have processors compatible with the new AI features that will be introduced in Windows 11. The discovery was made by Albacore , a user on the X network, who checked the code of the new beta versions of Windows. It seems that Microsoft is preparing the integration of AI functions in Explorer, but also in other components of the operating system.

To use AI Explorer, Windows 11 requires a Snapdragon X chipset

Albacore says Windows 11 build 26200 checks that all conditions for enabling AI features at runtime are met and displays a message on the screen on systems that don’t. At the moment, for AI Explorer, the conditions are closely related to what kind of processor you have in your computer, and Intel and AMD are still not on the list of officially supported processors.

It seems that Microsoft is preparing AI Explorer with strict compatibility with processors based on ARM architecture, with a minimum of 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. Incidentally, the only processor on the compatible list is the Snapdragon X Elite, which includes an NPU. It is not clear if this message will also be displayed on systems with x86 processors, but the build is for Windows 11 version 24H2, not one that is necessarily dedicated to Arm processors.

Fortunately, this message can be stopped by disabling certain elements of the operating system, but this step will not be easily accessible to ordinary users, but only to advanced users with above average knowledge. Even more interesting is that the AI ​​in Explorer will not work on systems with less than 16 GB of RAM, suggesting that the next computers equipped with Snapdragon X chipsets will use at least this amount of memory.

This is yet another example of Microsoft rushing AI adoption in a hurry. Intel and AMD have already released chips with integrated AI co-processors for more than a year, but Windows 11 seems to use only chipsets from Qualcomm, which haven’t even officially hit the market yet.