Microsoft’s new Windows chief on the future of the OS, Surface, and those annoying ads

Pavan Davuluri hasn’t even been the head of Windows for two months, but he’s already been tasked with announcing Microsoft’s transition to Arm-powered chips and its big AI-powered PC ambitions. There’s a lot riding on this moment, and Davuluri now has to lead both the Surface and Windows teams through an AI era that has the potential to upend how we use computers.

I sat down with the new Windows chief at the company’s Build developer conference this week to better understand what his vision is for Windows and Surface, whether Microsoft will still experiment with hardware, and if we should expect to see an end to the ads that are ruining the Windows experience.

Microsoft unveiled a lot of new AI features for its new Copilot Plus PCs, setting the stage for years of Windows transformation. “I think we have a world view of being able to deliver more value to Windows customers writ large, by infusing AI across the operating system,” says Davuluri in an interview with The Verge.

Some of that fusion of AI is already on the way with features like Recall — the ability to search and retrieve anything you’ve done on your PC — and an image creator that can see your drawings and reimagine your sketches. But that’s only a start.

Microsoft wants its Copilot AI to anticipate your needs when performing repetitive or common Windows tasks. “If we can find a way of having those moments be more productive and moving through things by understanding your intent and where you see value, we can make the Copilot have context and make it be sort of in the flow of what you do and how you do things,” says Davuluri.

AI is also going to have a big impact on how apps are built, Davuluri says. “The signal that we get over and over is that people are reimagining what their apps are on Windows,” he says.

Microsoft is counting on its Windows Copilot Runtime to help change how apps are built for Windows. This collection of tools gives developers the opportunity to take advantage of everything that Microsoft has built for its Copilot Plus PCs and the more than 40 AI models that are now built into the operating system.

“I think it will open up net new things, because you’ll start doing things in your apps that were otherwise not possible,” says Davuluri. “I think that’s one huge thrust for us in Windows, a platform through experiences.”

It’s still early days for this Windows Copilot Runtime, though. It’s designed exclusively for these new AI-powered PCs, of which Microsoft thinks there will be 50 million sold over the next year. That’s still only 20 percent of the 247 million PCs that IDC estimates were sold during 2023.

Beyond AI, Davuluri also sees a future for Windows being streamed to devices instead of running locally on them. Microsoft has been working toward this with its Windows 365 service. “We’re going to make Windows cloud native. We’re making a big push for Windows 365,” he says.

Microsoft shared an example of Windows being streamed to Meta Quest headsets during its Build keynote, with new “Windows Volumetric Apps” streaming HoloLens-like 3D apps and digital objects to a VR headset. This type of experience is designed for designers and people working with CAD drawings right now, but Davuluri sees a future where having Windows cloud native could change operating systems just as much as he thinks AI will.

“Windows and cloud is going to be a game changer for us in the arc of time,” says Davuluri. “It’s also going to change a lot of the compute paradigm because I believe that when the OS becomes cloud native… we’ll have near infinite scale for compute in the cloud. I think that will make us think differently about operating systems.”

Streaming Windows to future devices could even keep the OS relevant in a world where AI could reshape hardware as more companies experiment with AI-powered devices. This idea of hardware experimentation got me thinking about Microsoft’s own experiments with its Surface hardware over the years. Devices like the dual-screen Surface Neo and detaching Surface Book no longer exist, so will Microsoft still experiment with Surface hardware in the future?

“I think experimentation and iteration is the DNA for our team, so I think it’s vital that we continue to do it,” says Davuluri. While Surface may still push the boundaries yet, it sounds like Microsoft won’t be experimenting directly with customers. “I think the one difference will be the methods and tools we use for how we iterate and refine,” says Davuluri. “I think it will be within industry, within platform, within the company, and with partners. Perhaps less so with customers themselves.”

Microsoft’s new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is an example of seeking more refinement, rather than just shipping an experiment to customers. The $450 keyboard includes a haptic trackpad and a way to use it over Bluetooth for the first time. “We could have shipped that keyboard sooner if we felt like it, but the Surface team was on this kind of relentless march that it has to be really perfect,” says Davuluri.

As a 23-year veteran at Microsoft, Davuluri has been instrumental to the company’s silicon work for Windows, helping the company make Windows on Arm a reality. Now, he has the tricky balance of working with AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm during an Arm transition, and the many PC manufacturers that all compete against each other.

“Arm has certainly been a big conversation point, but really the bigger thing for me is a modernization of the platform,” says Davuluri. “Truthfully, modernizing the SoC platform is as true with AMD or with Intel as it is with Qualcomm. It has really required us to think about the silicon and the OS more deeply as a system together, and that has been an evolution in our own thinking and an evolution for our silicon partners. We were not entirely sure how we were going to navigate ourselves together, so that was kind of a paradigm shift in how we worked together, but it has been fantastic.”

All of this modernization means very little if Microsoft is going to continue to ruin the Windows experience with malware-like Bing prompts and ads. I’ve been particularly vocal about this, and it sounds like Microsoft might be listening. “I think that’s an ongoing journey for us. It is front and center for me, making sure we are winning Windows customers through great experiences at the end of the day,” says Davuluri. “We want them to enjoy Windows, we want them to want it. So I hear you on it.”