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what is hp ai companion

What Is HP AI Companion? Features, Requirements, and How It Works

The Microsoft Store listing describes HP AI Companion as a collection of AI tools and solutions for an AI PC. This guide maps what HP, that listing, and independent coverage say it does, what hardware it needs, and how on-device processing differs from cloud mode.

By Nightcap Research Desk · Published August 30, 2026 · Last verified August 30, 2026

This article was researched with AI assistance and independently reviewed by multiple AI models before publication.

Key takeaways

  • The Microsoft Store listing describes HP AI Companion as a collection of AI tools for an HP Next Gen AI PC, including generative Q&A, file-based insights, PC optimization, and curated AI-related content.
  • That listing requires an HP Next Gen AI PC with an NPU supporting 40–60 TOPS and Windows 11; HP's FAQ uses the same 40–60 TOPS range for a next-gen AI PC.
  • HP's FAQ and the Store listing attach a 32GB RAM requirement to on-device use; the Store listing also cites up to 4.5GB of storage. IT Daily reported 32GB RAM as a Companion compatibility requirement even on Copilot+ PCs.
  • Features named across sources include Analyze/libraries for selected personal files, Perform for PC control and support, Spotlight for separate ISV offers, and—in IT Daily's March 2025 account—a Discover chatbot tab.
  • HP's FAQ describes on-device mode as fully local query-to-response processing, including embeddings and a vectorized database. The Store listing describes cloud mode as a cloud-powered option when optimizing for more accuracy.

What Is HP AI Companion?

According to the Microsoft Store listing, HP AI Companion is a collection of AI tools and solutions for an AI PC: use generative AI to ask questions, find relevant information, summarize long articles, or generate content from your files, plus PC optimization and curated AI-related content.

This page explains what that product is, which features HP and third-party coverage describe, the hardware those sources say it needs, and how on-device processing differs from cloud mode. This guide treats camera and audio NPU effects as related HP AI PC hardware context rather than Companion features, because the cited Next Gen AI PCs and community blog extracts describe those effects, while the cited Companion extracts describe Analyze, Perform, Spotlight, and—in IT Daily's account—Discover.

What it is

IT Daily, writing in March 2025, reported that HP calls its latest computers AI PCs and equips them with AI Companion. That article discussed HP AI Companion Beta and described the tool as divided into three tabs: Discover, Analyze, and Perform.

HP's own AI Companion FAQ says the feature set is planned to include a limited set of AI tools. The Microsoft Store listing presents Analyze, a choice between on-device and cloud modes, Perform, and Spotlight.

Treat those as complementary snapshots: IT Daily was covering a 2025 beta; HP's FAQ uses planned-feature language; the Store listing describes the app's features and requirements.

Features sources describe

Analyze (libraries and your files)

HP's FAQ says Libraries/Analyze is planned to let users explore and interact with selected personal files to get actionable insights. The Microsoft Store listing gives examples: compare insights, summarize and highlight key points, and filter specific data.

IT Daily described Analyze as letting you create libraries with your own documents and analyze them with AI. In the same feature rundown it mentioned a Chat with Your Documents capability.

Discover

IT Daily reported that Discover includes classic chatbot functionality. The Store listing's cited material does not use the Discover name; it does describe using generative AI to ask questions, find information, summarize articles, or generate content using your files.

Perform

The Microsoft Store listing describes Perform as a way to personalize the PC, control it with easy commands, and get device support. IT Daily listed Perform as the third of the three tabs.

Spotlight

HP's FAQ calls Spotlight a dedicated section inside AI Companion that showcases exclusive offers and solutions from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). The Microsoft Store listing says Spotlight unlocks other AI products and services that can help with productivity, that those are not included or sold separately, and that availability varies by region.

Hardware and software requirements

The Microsoft Store listing states that HP AI Companion requires an HP Next Gen AI PC with an NPU supporting 40–60 TOPS and Windows 11. HP's FAQ likewise describes a next-gen AI PC as having a Neural Processing Unit supporting 40–60 TOPS.

On-device use has a higher bar than owning an NPU:

  • HP's FAQ says on-device processing requires 32GB or more memory.
  • The Microsoft Store listing says on-device AI use requires 32GB RAM and up to 4.5GB of storage on the PC.
  • IT Daily reported a broader compatibility point: even so-called Copilot+ AI PCs are not necessarily compatible with AI Companion, because you need 32GB of RAM.

An HP community blog explains Copilot+ class machines as matching Microsoft's stricter spec, most notably an NPU around the 40+ TOPS range, so advanced AI features can run instantly and privately. Comparing the ranges as reported: that Copilot+ class NPU is around 40+ TOPS, while HP's FAQ and the Store listing cite 40–60 TOPS for Companion. RAM is a separate gate in the Companion sources above.

On-device vs cloud

The Microsoft Store listing says you can switch between on-device and cloud modes. It describes on-device mode as working without an internet connection, and cloud mode as using cloud-powered capabilities to enhance insights when optimizing for more accuracy.

HP's FAQ is more specific about what selecting on device means: a fully local experience end-to-end, including where the user's files are stored, embeddings processing, creation of a vectorized database, and how data chunks are processed to answer the query. All processing from query to response occurs within the PC.

IT Daily, in March 2025, said HP wanted to integrate local AI into AI Companion and was looking at Microsoft's Phi 3.5 model. That article's hoped-for timeline was partial local operation that summer, with everything sorted by the end of 2025 or early 2026. Read that as a 2025 report of HP's direction, not as a later status check.

HP's FAQ describes that on-device path as fully local processing that stays on the PC. Separately, HP's Next Gen AI PCs page describes AI-enhanced features as designed to respect privacy — wording the cited extract applies to those PC-level features.

How this sits on an HP AI PC

This section is organizing context, not a sourced claim that camera and audio effects are excluded from Companion.

HP's Next Gen AI PCs page says those machines include specialized hardware such as neural processing units (NPUs) to run AI tasks on the device, that HP OmniBooks and HP EliteBooks offer these AI capabilities, and that examples include HP Spectre and HP EliteBook models with Intel Core Ultra or AMD Ryzen AI processors, built to support features such as background blur, voice focus, and real-time language translation. That page also describes AI-enhanced features as designed to respect privacy.

An HP community blog similarly says HP's new AI PCs pair Windows features with a dedicated NPU so effects like background blur, auto-framing, eye contact, and voice focus run on the laptop instead of relying on the cloud.

This guide treats those as PC-level Windows/NPU features described on those pages, and treats Companion as the HP app that, in the Companion-specific sources above, adds Analyze, Perform, Spotlight, and—in IT Daily's account—Discover.

Checklist: where the sources line up

HP's FAQ and the Microsoft Store listing both state:

  • Target hardware includes an HP Next Gen AI PC with an NPU in the 40–60 TOPS range.
  • Analyze/libraries work with selected personal files.
  • Spotlight is a section for other vendors' AI offers.
  • On-device use needs 32GB of memory.

The Store listing also states: Windows 11; on-device storage up to 4.5GB; a switch between on-device and cloud; Perform for PC control and support; Spotlight offers not included or sold separately, with availability varying by region.

IT Daily (March 2025) also reported: a three-tab layout (Discover, Analyze, Perform); 32GB RAM as a Companion compatibility requirement even on Copilot+ PCs; HP looking at Microsoft's Phi 3.5 for local-model integration.

Described on the Next Gen page and community blog (this guide treats these as PC-level context): NPU-accelerated effects such as background blur and voice focus on HP AI PCs.

Decision tree: match your PC to what the sources require

This tree restates those requirements. It is not a performance ranking.

  1. Do you have an HP Next Gen AI PC with an NPU rated 40–60 TOPS, running Windows 11? The Microsoft Store listing states those as Companion requirements. If the PC is not in that class, the listing's stated path does not apply.
  2. Do you have 32GB of RAM? HP's FAQ and the Store listing attach 32GB to on-device AI (the Store listing also cites up to 4.5GB of storage). IT Daily reported 32GB as required for Companion compatibility even on Copilot+ hardware. If RAM is below 32GB, on-device Companion as HP and the Store listing describe it is not available, and IT Daily's account says Companion itself may not be compatible.
  3. What do you want the app to do?
    • Work with your own files (summarize, compare, filter, libraries) → Analyze, as described by HP's FAQ, the Store listing, and IT Daily.
    • Chat-style Q&A → Discover, per IT Daily; the Store listing describes generative Q&A and summarization without using that tab name.
    • Control or support the PC → Perform, per the Store listing.
    • Browse other vendors' AI tools → Spotlight; the Store listing notes those offers are separate and vary by region.
  4. Does processing need to stay on the machine? Yes → HP's FAQ describes selecting on device as fully local, including embeddings and the vectorized database. Prefer the Store listing's accuracy-oriented path → that listing describes cloud mode as cloud-powered capabilities when optimizing for more accuracy.

Sources