STMicroelectronics just gave your laptop superpowers, but not the kind you’ll see. The company’s latest breakthrough in what it calls “Human Presence Detection” (HPD) uses invisible infrared sensors (not webcams, don’t worry) to watch when you step away, look away, or even get ambushed by a nosy coworker. All while cutting daily display power use by over 20%.
It’s called the FlightSense VL53L8CP sensor, and it’s at the heart of ST’s fifth-generation HPD platform. This is no concept: The system is a turnkey solution, pre-trained with AI and ready for laptop makers to drop into next-gen models. And with ST’s track record (their older FlightSense sensors are already in over 260 models of laptops), this tech could land in devices before year’s end.
Smarter sensing through contextual AI
Unlike earlier systems from Dell, HP, or Lenovo that use webcams, ultrasound, or even radar, STMicro’s solution combines multizone Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensors capable of tracking movement up to four meters away and combines them with dedicated AI models trained on thousands of movement patterns. It doesn’t just sense movement but works to understand it.
ST’s HPD system hinges on four purpose-built AI models: Presence AI to detect whether someone is in front of the device, Head Orientation AI to determine where the user is looking, and two additional models focused on posture and hand detection. The system doesn’t just know if you’re there but whether you’re paying attention, if you’ve stepped away, or if someone is lurking behind you.
And crucially, it does all this without capturing a single image. That means no creepy camera footage, no facial recognition, and no cloud upload risks. This is a crucial privacy win at a time when AI is learning fast and loose.
HPD also doesn’t store audio, and it doesn’t need to send anything to remote servers for processing. That makes it fundamentally different from webcam-based systems like Windows Hello, which require explicit visual recognition, and from more intrusive sensing platforms that run afoul of data protection regulations.
With regulatory scrutiny mounting around how laptops and phones “watch” their users, STMicro’s decision to keep its AI local and its data anonymous reads as both ethically sound and commercially savvy.
The power savings argument
There’s also a more utilitarian angle to all this. According to ST, adaptive dimming alone can cut display energy use by over 20% on average per day.
Considering that backlighting remains one of the largest power draws in any mobile device, this kind of AI-managed optimization could meaningfully extend battery life not just in ultrabooks, but in desktops and monitors as well.
It’s a particularly timely innovation as OEMs compete to launch AI PCs with power-hungry NPUs and always-on interfaces. A smarter display system that quietly manages brightness based on attention is the kind of passive efficiency gain that users will feel without even realizing it’s happening.
No further development required
While many emerging sensor technologies tend to languish in concept stages or take years to hit production hardware, this one is different. STMicro says the system is a turnkey solution that requires no further development from OEMs. That’s a strong indicator that the integration pipeline is already underway.
Given that the company’s FlightSense platform is already embedded in more than 260 laptop models, including past partnerships with Dell, HP, and Lenovo, the leap from announcement to commercial rollout could be short.
Based on current OEM product cycles and supply chain availability, the first laptops with this fifth-generation HPD system could arrive by late 2025. But we’re just speculating.
If the AI PC trend has been defined by flashy silicon and visible performance gains, STMicro’s new presence detection platform takes a different approach. It operates invisibly. It watches without seeing. It reacts without needing to ask. And it quietly changes how we interact with machines by removing friction instead of adding features.
That may be the most compelling innovation of all… not what the tech does but rather what it no longer needs to do.
