Microsoft gives Task Manager another task: Watching AI workloads
Per-process NPU metrics arrive as one more venerable Windows utility risks feature bloat
Microsoft has given its Task Manager a new responsibility: monitoring artificial intelligence workloads. Task Manager, originally developed by Dave Plummer in the 1990s, has evolved from a simple application to include deeper visibility into AI workloads on supported newer devices. The Processes tab now displays per-process activity for the neural processing unit (NPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) neural engine, alongside CPU and GPU activity.
The Performance tab also shows overall utilization. This development is beneficial for diagnosing performance and power consumption problems, particularly on battery-powered laptops. Microsoft emphasizes that monitoring AI processing activity alongside CPU, memory, storage, and networking data from a familiar interface can help users make better-informed decisions.
While the added metrics will be useful for developers, it remains to be seen if they represent helpful visibility or another step toward feature bloat.
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Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Microsoft gives Task Manager another task: Watching AI workloads theregister.com
