Saturday, Feb 25, 2017

Barcelona: The conspicuous rise for Artificial Intelligence (AI) comes just at a time when the global growth of smartphones is slowing significantly, prompting a number of analysts to dub it “the big thing” for the industry.

Ian Fogg, director of mobile and telecom analysis at IHS Markit, said that existing AI agents like Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant will expand across the industry, complemented by embedded AI in everything from cameras to audio to industrial machines.

“Smartphones will both be the interface for consumer AI and deliver the vast amount of data technology companies need to train AI systems. We see AI making smart devices even smarter with improved user experiences,” he said.

Vendors such as Google, Apple, Sony, Microsoft and Samsung have heavily invested in the development of their own AI and voice-assistant capabilities. In order to compete, smaller players with less in-house software expertise and resources will be looking to partner up.

As Amazon’s Alexa makes its way onto other devices, Fogg said that Google must and will increase the reach of its own Assistant to all Android smartphones — reducing the differentiation for Google’s Pixel smartphone.

The recently held Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January highlighted that AI is becoming the backbone to app-integrated interactions for virtually every complex computerised product at the show.

The show showcased over 30 products with Amazon Alexa’s voice-based virtual assistant integrated, from third party smart speakers to smart appliances, robots and cars.

Steve Rabuchin, company’s head of Alexa, said that opening up the system in 2015 had let to developers adding new skills to Alexa to make it more useful.

Mike George, vice president of Amazon.com’s Alexa unit, said that since opening up the platform for third-party developers, 10,000 downloadable applications (skills) had been created to perform new tasks.

Huawei’s Mate 9 will get the Alexa voice assistant by the end of the first quarter.

By 2020, the smartphone-installed base will exceed six billion units, up from four billion in 2016, with revenues totalling $355 billion.

“Over five years since Apple’s Siri first launched, Apple must offer new AI-powered capabilities to remain competitive,” Fogg said.

He said that software investments and partnerships are critical for hardware companies to create smarter AI-enabled experiences.

By Naushad K. Cherrayil Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.