Windows 11, AI under control in Task Manager: Microsoft adds NPU analysis

The Task Manager of Windows 11 becomes more useful for AI PC owners, reflecting a precise strategy by Microsoft aimed at making the contribution of dedicated silicon tangible. The company has added the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) graph in the Performance tab, a fundamental pillar to support Copilot+ PCs. Users can now instantly check how AI-related workloads, such as Windows Studio Effects for video enhancement or other local machine learning processes, are managed by the dedicated chip instead of overloading the CPU or GPU.

The visibility of the NPU in Task Manager was introduced with build 26300.8142 in the Dev channel of Windows Insider, and it serves to show the percentage of usage of the integrated NPU in the system. Without this telemetry, the user had no way to perceive the energy efficiency derived from offloading AI tasks to the NPU, a component designed specifically to handle tensor operations with minimal consumption where a GPU would require dozens of watts. This is an editorial and technical choice that aims at operational transparency in the face of the increasing integration of linguistic models and local computer vision algorithms within the operating system.

Windows 11 Build 26300.8142 Introduces NPU in Task Manager

Microsoft explained the novelty as follows in the official changelog:
"We are updating Task Manager to provide better insight into NPU usage for PCs that include an NPU. New optional NPU and NPU Engine columns are now available in the Processes, Users, and Details pages. The Details page also adds optional NPU Dedicated Memory and NPU Shared Memory columns to give you deeper visibility into how workloads leverage NPU resources. Additionally, if there are neural engines that are part of a GPU, they will now appear on the Performance page, providing a more comprehensive view of AI-related system activity."

For all the news from the new build, released at the end of March, you can consult this page of the official blog.