What is an "ambient intelligence layer" and why should you care? Lenovo thinks it has multi-device AI figured out with Quira, but there's more to the story

Lenovo had an incredibly packed CES 2026, and despite launching some of the most attractive and forward-looking PC hardware I saw at the show, its two-hour keynote speech at Sphere was entirely dominated by AI.

What the leading PC manufacturer in the world seemed most excited to show off was a new "Personal Ambient Intelligence" platform designed to work across devices.

The first time I heard about this type of "super agent" technology was when it was hinted at by Lenovo's Executive VP and President of Intelligent Devices Group, Luca Rossi, during an IFA 2025 roundtable discussion at which I was present.

Rossi spoke about how China was already home to AI that could seamlessly blend experiences across desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and wearables, stating that he believed Lenovo was in a unique position — with its wide hardware offerings of all the above — to create this type of AI computing.

That future, as envisioned by Lenovo, is Qira.

Hands-on with Lenovo Qira at CES 2026

Qira is Lenovo and Motorola's new AI super-agent that's designed to be "always present" in order to "support you in the moment." It works on Lenovo laptops, tablets, and desktop PCs, on Motorola phones, and on a range of other wearable hardware from the two companies, including something called Project Maxwell.

If you watched Lenovo's keynote address at CES 2026, many of the speakers were wearing an amulet around their necks. That's Project Maxwell, Motorola's wearable concept that sees and hears everything you do. Yes, it does sound intrusive and borderline dystopian. At the same time, it's entirely necessary for this newfound level of AI servitude.

I got a hands-on demo with the new AI intelligence layer just before the company's keynote address. I must admit that Qira looks like a godsend for someone as disorganized as I am. That is, of course, ignoring the fact that you have to essentially hand over every detail of your life in order to maximize Qira's abilities. I'm not entirely on board in that regard.

Qira is still in beta state, according to the company, but it's already evidently operating relatively smoothly across Lenovo laptops and Motorola phones. It's as unintrusive as a small icon on your screen, expandable whenever you need it, happy to recede into the background and wait when you're OK operating solo.

Everything that Qira sees and does is carried over to any other hardware on which it's installed, and over time, it's meant to learn your habits and needs. There was a bit of jank during the private demo involving PCs and phones, but overall it seemed to do exactly as advertised. I could look up travel destinations on one device, to have Qira recommend some dinner ideas on another based on my recent searches.

Qira can carry out instructions in other apps (whether you're online or offline), it can coordinate other AI agents to your benefit, and at its core, it can help with practically anything you're doing.

This intent-based AI future in Lenovo's dreams is not made to compete with Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT, or any of the other big AI firms. Instead, it's meant to partner and work with these companies as the demand for large AI models and for cloud workloads increases.

Is Qira intended to be a closed ecosystem?

I was again part of a roundtable discussion with Lenovo's Luca Rossi at CES 2026, where the media asked some additional questions regarding Qira.

On the subject of proliferation, Rossi believes that, over time, Qira will come to "most" of Lenovo's devices. At this point, there are still some requirements to do with computing power, but these will abate as Qira's code gets better and AI hardware — namely Neural Processing Units (NPU) — gets stronger. This applies to phones and PCs.

Qira is also not designed to be an exclusive feature. I was curious to know if I could one day put Qira on my gaming PC that I built myself, to which Rossi responded that there is no intention of creating a closed ecosystem.

Qira is indeed launching first on Lenovo and Motorola products — likely in March or April 2026 — but will eventually expand to other PCs, phones, and wearables as it matures.

How does Qira handle data security?

The phrase "with your permission" was used a lot when it came to Qira security, but it's still not entirely clear how all that data from different devices will be handled.

Rossi added some context after the keynote, stating that Lenovo "will have a very transparent and clear approach for the user," helping Qira adopters understand exactly what data is being processed on-device and what data is being shuttled out to AI datacenters.

Regardless, this level of AI assistance — what Lenovo likens to an AI twin — is an entirely new level of data harvesting that will undoubtedly take some time getting used to.

I admit that my brief time with Qira at CES 2026 only whetted my appetite, and that's despite me being a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to handing out my data. There is great potential here, and Qira could one day be viewed as the pioneering tech that started us down the path of deeply integrated AI assistants as the new norm.

What are your thoughts on Lenovo and Motorola's Qira? Is it something you'd use? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments section below.

Lenovo Qira FAQ

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