AI apps that run locally on PCs have been relatively scarce, posing a significant limitation for users. Intel aims to overcome this with the release of AI Playground, a dedicated platform designed to run AI applications on its Core Ultra processors.
Dan Rogers, who leads Intel’s client performance marketing lab, introduced AI Playground at the Berlin launch event for Intel’s Core Ultra Series 2, also known as the “Lunar Lake” processor. This new processor delivers the computational power necessary to qualify as a Copilot+ PC, thanks to its advanced TOPS capabilities.
The AI Playground app is freely available on GitHub and includes several AI-driven features, such as image generation, a chatbot, and tools for enhancing personal photos. However, the app is specifically tailored for Core Ultra PCs, and it’s uncertain whether it would operate on devices with similar AI capabilities, like those powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite.
In a brief demonstration, Rogers showcased two functionalities: an AI art generator and a local language model. The extent of the generative AI art’s detail, as well as whether it relies on the GPU or NPU, remains unknown. Earlier, Intel’s vice president Jim Johnson mentioned the company’s use of floating-point math to create more detailed images, setting it apart from integer-based computations.