We don’t need AI hardware in Chromebook Plus to use AI features…yet

You know what I’m already getting a bit fatigued hearing about? AI infused into just about everything you can imagine. There’s a great number of things AI will assist us with in the coming years – that much is certain. But for the time being, this somewhat-ridiculous marketing hype around processors with AI at the core is nothing more than that: hype. For the near-term, the benefits just aren’t really there and AI built into processors left and right feels pretty gimmicky at the moment.

Now, I think that will change and I think there will come a time when AI-specific cores inside new SoCs will have a reason to be trumpeted as important and ground-breaking, but we’re just not there yet. On-device AI has a long way to go and the existence of large language model AI (ChatGPT, Bard, etc.) makes it feel like we’ve made massive moves with consumer-facing AI when in reality, we haven’t.

Those huge models are also huge-server-reliant, meaning they require massive amounts of computing power to deliver the fun and interesting results we’ve all been awed by for the past year or so. And don’t get me wrong – I think it’s absolutely fascinating and ground-breaking: just not for on-device applications yet. And that’s exactly what’s being marketed right now.

The new AI processors

Do any looking around right now and all you’ll see with new chips from Qualcomm, Intel, MediaTek, Google, Samsung and others touting their newfound prowess with AI built into their processors. It’s the buzzword, marketing-rich term that makes people feel like their devices will be future-proofed. But the problem lies in the fact that we have no real idea exactly how AI will play into localized software right now. Those large language models that are so impressive and fun have no place on your laptop or phone and need so many more resources than the latest Intel Core Ultra 7 can muster than its laughable to think of this sort of computing being done at someone’s desk right now.

The future can and likely will change with this, but that future isn’t right now. Non-server-based AI on our local devices is FAR from being massively useful, yet you’d think from the marketing machines out there that you need AI-based hardware right now in order to have a device that is any good at all. And that’s simply not true.

Chromebook Plus AI

Take Chromebook Plus and the AI features we expect to see in the next few months with these devices. None of the Plus models on the market right now (there’s a big, big one on the way) have a fancy, new AI chip from Intel. Instead, they have the proven, fast, efficient 12th-gen Intel Core i3 that gets great battery life, has fantastic performance, and is reasonably priced. And yet, they’ll all get some pretty impressive new AI-based tricks in the coming weeks.

With fun features like AI-based wallpapers, screensavers, and video chat backgrounds, Chromebooks will be doing some fun stuff with AI. But then there’s the “Help me write” features on the way as well that will assist users with all sorts of productivity in all facets of a Chromebook’s abilities. These features will be genuinely useful and if delivered well, will make the case for what on-device AI will be capable of in the future.

But obviously none of this will require an AI-specific processor. The software simply isn’t there to lean completely on these new types of chips, and I don’t think many of us are even sold on the need for them at this point. Can some dedicated AI cores help certain tasks? Sure, but given the current software needs, will that even be helpful in the upcoming year? I’m not sold yet on the fact that it will.

I think AI has a bright future

Please don’t hear me saying all of this to hate on AI and what it could do for us from a technology standpoint. The future of AI on our devices is bright, but it is going to take time. You can’t begin rolling out AI capabilities right now at an OS level and force them to rely on brand-new hardware that is just now hitting store shelves. That’s a recipe for literally no one to use these new features.

Instead, we need AI-equipped hardware to start getting in devices so that developers can start figuring out new ways to leverage it for future use cases. Right now, the cart feels WAY out in front of the proverbial horse, and the unfortunate side effect is a bunch of mislead consumers that feel like their devices are somehow inferior because they don’t have AI inside the hardware.

With Google getting ready to launch a slew of anticipated AI stuff for Chromebook Plus, I’m hoping the message is clear that you don’t need Intel’s latest AI processors to take advantage of any of it. It will all work just fine on the hardware we have now, and that’s a good thing. AI is going to be game-changing, but it needs time to arrive at that point, and I hope consumers can see through the marketing hype long enough for it all to evolve the way it needs to.