Microsoft bets on AI agents that run on your own PC
At its first live event in two years, Microsoft showed new Windows tools on Wednesday that let AI agents run on a laptop instead of in the cloud, plus a Surface Laptop Ultra built on Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip. Businesses get new controls over what those agents can touch. The laptop starts at $2,599 and ships Oct. 16.
Microsoft wants more of your AI work to happen on your own computer. At an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, its first live event in two years, the company showed new Windows features built for AI agents, Ars Technica reported. Agents are AI programs that can carry out tasks, such as writing code, on their own.
The star device was the Surface Laptop Ultra. It is Microsoft's first machine built on Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip, and it can have up to 128 gigabytes of memory. It starts at $2,599, rises to $5,899 for the top model, and ships Oct. 16, Reuters and Ars reported. Microsoft also showed a $5,999 desktop box for AI developers.
Security was a big theme. Microsoft released a tool called Microsoft Execution Containers, or MXC. It keeps agents inside a walled-off space so they cannot grab files or do tasks they were not allowed to do. IT departments can set rules, and Windows enforces them on each worker's machine. Anthropic, OpenAI and Nvidia will use the tool, said Pavan Davuluri, who runs Windows.
"We needed to make the desktop the most secure place for agents to execute," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, according to Reuters. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, on stage with him, said that without it, agents are "a complete nonstarter."
Copilot, Microsoft's built-in assistant, is getting three tabs: Home for chat, Code for building simple apps, and Autopilot for watching agents work. "Copilot will still use the cloud for the hardest tasks," said Copilot chief Jacob Andreou, but it can hand some jobs to models on the computer when cost or privacy matters more.
Windows will also run models such as Nvidia's Nemotron and a version of DeepSeek's V4 on machines with at least 60 gigabytes of memory. Meta's Muse assistant is coming to Windows as an app.
The catch is price. A memory-chip shortage has pushed up costs. "Now the software is ready and the hardware is too expensive to actually run it locally," said analyst Anshel Sag of Moor Insights & Strategy.
For Microsoft, the bet is that some work now done in its costly cloud data centers can move to PCs that customers pay for, Reuters reported.
What we know: Microsoft is building Windows around local AI agents with new safety controls.
What we don't: Whether buyers will pay these prices to run AI on their own machines.
Where outlets agree Ars Technica and Reuters both report the Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599 on Nvidia's RTX Spark chip, alongside the new MXC agent security tool.
Where they differ Microsoft says the software is ready, but analyst Anshel Sag told Reuters the hardware is now too expensive for most people to run AI locally.