Printers are often considered an anarchistic necessary evil in an increasingly paper-free digital world. Printer user interfaces are less than intuitive. Printers run out of paper or ink, they jam, or they mysteriously disconnect from the network just when you need them. Figuring out what you’re going to get when you print web pages often results in wasted paper and ink, and determining the name your scan was automatically assigned and where it ended up being saved in your PC file hierarchy can turn into a tedious search.
However, HP believes that integrating AI into its printers – including consumer, home office/small business, and enterprise models – can provide relief to those who still need to produce hard copies.
“We have prioritized the implementation of AI capabilities on our printers based on feedback received from our customers,” explains Aurelio Maruggi, president of HP’s Office Print Solutions division, “and studies we have done in terms of the type of utilization that customers are doing [with] multifunction devices.”
Last September, HP rolled out AI features in its consumer printers that will be included in all new models. At CES, HP debuted a different array of Copilot AI features for enterprise printer management under the company’s WXP – Workforce Experience Platform – program.
HP AI Printers for Consumers
All HP consumer, home office, and small business printers in these series set up after September 15 will have access to HP AI:
- HP DeskJet 2800/2900/4300/4200/4300
- HP Envy 6100/6500
- HP Envy Photo 7200/7900
- HP Smart Tank 5000/6000/7000/7300/7600
- HP OfficeJet Pro 8100/9100/9700
- HP LaserJet Pro 100/200
HP AI also presents more conversational prompts in the user interface to make it easier for users to get precise printing from web pages on Windows 11. Additionally, AI Cards are coming soon. This HP AI feature will help users more easily integrate layouts, custom styles, and fonts to personalize greeting cards. for example, and corrects common print errors by automatically upscaling images and removing unwanted objects such as ads from web pages.
On multifunction models, HP AI analyzes documents being scanned and suggests both a title based on the contents of the document and a PC save location.
In addition, “we have implemented in our printers to allow them to be discovered and to be connected much more easily,” Maruggi added, “with more [features] to come.”
One caveat, however: these HP AI Print assists are available only for Windows PCs and are not compatible with Apple Macs.
HP AI Printers for Enterprise
At CES 2026, HP unveiled printer AI enhancements, which will become available in February via WXP Print Management plans as stand-alone subscriptions or add-ons to a WXP Fleet Management plan for direct customers in North America.
According to the company, the printer AI improvements include firmware-level recovery for unbootable systems, unified printer management, new collaboration space analytics, custom alert capabilities, and faster global deployment via Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace.
Most of all, Copilot AI will assist enterprises in addressing and streamlining the exponential growth in the digitalization of physical documents. Copilot integration, an HP Workpath app managed within WXP, is planned for later this year. Copilot AI will be able to analyze documents, create summaries, translations, and meta files to ensure documents are routed correctly in workflows.
WXP administrators will now be able to monitor their multi-vendor printer fleet through the same unified console as their PCs, video, and audio devices, as well as seamlessly manage settings and security for HP FutureSmart 5 enterprise printers.
More AI to Come
Maruggi notes that HP’s consumer and enterprise printer AI efforts are just the beginning, “definitely a first phase.” Printers that include HP AI for consumer models and Copilot Print Management for WXP on the enterprise side include “smart device services,” machine learning AI to understand how a device is operating and to identify changes in the device. This learning capability will enable future AI updates for all HP AI-enabled printers to understand their status better, to know well in advance when supplies need to be reordered and installed, or to suss out when things might go wrong.
For instance, already on the HP AI drawing board are next phase consumer AI implementations for proactive maintenance, such as warning users about low ink or paper levels, and an increasingly more natural language interface to allow users to describe their exact printer intent.
“You won’t need to even understand what collating means, or what portrait or landscape means,” Maruggi predicts. “Fundamentally, you describe in natural language the type of output that you are expecting. The printer will do the rest.”
See also: LG Introduces The Wallpaper TV Thin Wireless OLED TV
