HP held its second annual HP Imagine conference in Palo Alto, CA last week, where unsurprisingly, the focus was on AI across the board. From laptops to even printers, HP discussed how AI impacts every facet of productivity for creatives, business professionals, even students.

The 2024 HP Work Relationship Index Says Workers Are Embracing AI

The company released data from its 2024 HP Work Relationship Index to support the idea that workers are not only ready for AI, they are wholeheartedly embracing it and recognizing its benefits. According to the survey, which polled 15,600 respondents across industries and in 12 countries, AI usage among knowledge workers rose to 66% in 2024, up from just 38% last year. Most important, workers who use AI are 11 points happier when it comes to their relationship with work than their colleagues who don’t use AI.

The personal experiences afforded by AI are so crucial, in fact, that 87% of knowledge workers who desire personal experiences would even be willing to forego a portion of their salary to get it (the figure is 82% for Canadians specifically). The majority (64%) of knowledge workers said if work was tailored or customized to their personal needs and preferences, they would be more invested in the company’s growth; and 69% said they feel it would enhance their overall well-being. Sixty-eight per cent even noted it would incentivize them to stay with their current employers longer.

Why do these workers love AI? Seventy-three percent feel it makes their jobs easier, 69% are customizing their use of AI to be more productive (60% in Canada), 60% say it plays a key role in improving their work-life balance, and 68% say it opens new opportunities for them to enjoy work.

AI Laptops Are Simply Top-Of-The-Line Laptops

While focus when it comes to laptops is often on the interesting ways you can use AI, from chatbots to generative AI for image creation, the most important thing to note is that AI laptops are generally the most powerful laptops for productivity you can buy. They are measured by Tera Operations per Second (TOPs), which indicates the performance of the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that is necessary for running AI applications, and that allows AI PCs to run more efficiently and powerfully, overall.

AI PCs are “better PCs by traditional metrics,” says Sam Chang, Division President of Consumer PC at HP. They are designed with features and software capabilities that can be best leveraged by creative types, freelancers, and other business professionals, even students in specific fields. But they are overall, quite simply, powerful computing devices that everyone can get behind.

In essence, then, AI PCs are likely to become the norm, not the exception. You may not think you’ll use everything an AI PC has to offer, but you’ll benefit from the processing power, efficiency, extended battery life, and the inclusion of software that you might not have otherwise been able to tackle without training.

HP introduced two new laptops at the Imagine event that leverage AI. The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip is considered the first convertible laptop to include AI technology. Running an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, it has a dedicated AI engine with up to 47 TOPs that results in more efficient operation, especially with tasks like video conferencing and editing. It offers a generous 20-hour battery life, has 16GB RAM, comes with a 9MP AI Poly Audio camera, and can be used with an optional USB-C rechargeable tilt pen. AI features include Copilot in Windows 11 and AI Companion, a personal assistant that learns along with you so it can respond to your specific needs. This level of personalization in AI PCs is crucial to enhancing the experience.

“AI PCs [can] understand what’s very personal and [that] will become more impactful,” says Chang. “The ability to understand natural language is a fairly mature technology, but context switching, I think, is [what’s most challenging,]. The ability to add context is what makes [AI] effective for natural conversations.” Your AI computer, in essence, will get to know you and understand the specific jargon and terminology you use, whether you work in a specialized field or you’re a Gen-Zer who has their own vocabulary of trendy words. It will then be able to respond and tackle commands and prompts more quickly and in ways that are most relevant to your specific needs.

The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 is available November 1, 2024 starting at US$1,600.

For commercial users, there’s the HP EliteBook X, coming in December 2024 with pricing TBA. This computer runs on a next-gen AMD Ryzen Pro processor and is loaded with Wolf Security that offloads processor-intensive security tasks to the NPU. The result is preservation of the CPU for your all-day productivity, along with enhanced battery life.

The HP EliteBook X makes clever use of AI through additional security features, like McAfee Smart AI Deepfake Detector that detects AI-generated audio to warn you about potentially fraudulent data or misinformation. A sensor in the built-in webcam is also AI-powered. If someone is looking at your device, it will automatically blur the screen, perfect for students and professionals working in public or co-working spaces.

How HP is Redefining the Printer

The most interesting and unique use of AI announced at the event relates to how HP plans to redefine how we view and interact with the printer, a device that you typically wouldn’t equate with AI experiences.

“People think about AI as being something in your PC or your phone, not as that offramp and that output,” says Sue Richards, Division President and General Manager of Home Printing at HP. “But because we own the PC, we own the printer, we understand that it’s really about how you apply AI to those customer outcomes. What do customers want to do?”

Despite the world going digital, the reality is that we do still print at home and the office. But the way we print hasn’t changed much in the last few decades. And there are unique ways AI can come in handy, as HP showed with HP Print AI.

If you have ever tried to print something like a webpage or article, recipe from the web, or even a spreadsheet, graphs, or tables, you might find that the printer does some wonky things. Because of text links, ads, images, tables of contents, pull quotes, and other extraneous content on the page, you could end up with a print preview that shows 40+ pages when all you want is one or two with the information you need.

A feature called Perfect Output, part of HP Print AI, analyzes the content, strips out all the text and images you don’t need, reformats the page or pages, and outputs a perfect print with just what you want, in fewer pages. It can even intelligently detect if a graph or table is missing a header and suggest one or provide multiple layout options so you can choose exactly how you want everything to appear. This saves time, paper, ink, and in the long run, money.

Also coming via HP Print AI is an intelligent assistant that pops up at the side of the screen to assist with creative projects. Say you forgot to get a card for your child’s teacher for the last day of school. You can easily create one at home. Choose a photo (maybe one of your child in the classroom or on a school trip) and tell the assistant what style, messaging, even background you want to add. It will create a unique card that you can further tweak and customize through additional prompts. You can also choose virtual gift cards from partner retailers, order a desired denomination, and add it to the greeting card, without ever leaving the print menu.

Evites are great, says Richards, “but something physical is getting more and more meaningful.” That’s even so among digital natives who have been embracing what they call “retro tech.” “It’s personal,” she adds, “and feels more special.” Plus, there’s the added benefit of creative assistance: you don’t need to be a designer or Hallmark card writer to come up with a stunning card and sweet message: the HP printer will do it for you.

HP Print AI will be available in various HP printer models, including the newly announced HP Envy 6100 and 6500 all-in-one printer series.

Why AI?

AI technology is not just about all the fun features that come with it, nor does it mean ChatGPT. It’s also not just limited to its capabilities for third-party software used by content creators, freelancers, and those in other specialized fields. There are real-life benefits for average workers, students, and everyday users making creative projects at home. Most important, AI tech typically represents the highest-end tech around. If pricing of an AI laptop rivals non-AI alternatives, it’s a no-brainer to jump in with both feet, even if you won’t be realizing all the benefits just yet (or ever).

“It’s not really about using AI as a thing,” says Richards. “It’s about how does AI enable me to do things easier with less friction and give me back time to spend on doing things I love.”

-30-

The Latest Laptops Come With AI

What You Should Know About the Latest PCs With Copilot+, Snapdragon X Elite

Related:  AI