Rumors surrounding the Intel Arrow Lake refresh are re-emerging, this time concentrating on its AI capabilities. The chips that were released previously seemed to fall flat, prompting Intel to look at improvements, specifically by adding a neural processing unit (NPU) for AI tasks.

Recent discussions by The Verge pointed out that while the Arrow Lake refresh won’t introduce significant enhancements, it will include an NPU to bolster AI performance. This design mirrors the architecture from the Lunar Lake laptop CPU, which enabled its Copilot Plus AI update last November, marking an important step for Intel’s desktop CPUs.

Interestingly, the NPU appears to be the solitary improvement Intel is planning for this refresh, which raises concerns for gamers. With no anticipated increases in clock speeds, the performance boost from Intel’s existing 200S Boost Mode may serve better than upgrading to this refresh.

As these chips make their way into desktops, their performance in gaming contexts remains uncertain.