AI in the Smartphone Industry

Everything is smarter today than it was a decade ago. Smartphones? Check. Smartwatches? Of course. Smart cars? Indeed. Smart appliances? That too. With all these smart devices populating our world, the question of their enabler comes to mind. Well, all of this — every single smart device we use day after day — is a reality because of artificial intelligence (AI).

What Is Artificial Intelligence?

True to its name, artificial intelligence is man-made intelligence; intelligence created in a lab that aims to mimic natural intelligence, which is what we and other animals possess.

No longer the stuff of Sci-Fi books and movies, AI is taking over the world. Not literally, of course — at least not yet. If you think of our brain as a network of signals and sensors, then you have a grasp of what AI can do. Like the brain, AI can digest large amounts of data and make predictions about that data.

For example, if you hear someone say “knock-knock,” you instinctively know that “who’s there?” will come right after. In a similar vein, if you’re texting someone and have predictive text enabled, typing “I’m on” will most likely pull up “my” and then “way.” In many cases, you may even get an option for a whole “I’m on my way!” text. In this instance, your phone used all your past texting data and patterns to predict what you were likely to type next.

These predictive capabilities and pattern recognition are all due to deep learning, a branch of AI that excels in pattern recognition. In fact, deep learning is improving many AI-enabled features we have in our very own smartphones, such as image recognition and Face ID, speech recognition, predictive text, translations, and much more. Let’s delve deeper.

Uses of Artificial Intelligence in the Smartphone Industry

Deloitte’s Global Mobile Consumer Survey found that 65% of smartphone owners across 16 developed markets have used an application that features AI and machine learning (talk about intelligent phones). The thing is, when we pair phones with AI, the mobile experience becomes even more personalized and convenient, leading to improved experiences as a whole.

source: statista.com

Predictive Text

Seeing as how we touched on it earlier, the first AI feature found in our smartphones we’ll talk about today is predictive text. Let’s start with a fact: we type a lot. Whether it’s texting, emailing or simply searching on Google, we’re typing away every day. And every time we type one word after another, even one letter after another, our phones are analyzing and taking note of our habits. In other words, they’re picking up on our typing and texting patterns.

Think of it as a game of chance in which everything is determined by odds. If you (almost) always type “hey, what are” before typing “doing,” then odds are that next time you type “hey, what are,” “doing” will pop up as a suggestion. In this way, everything is connected and dominated by odds. Going further, you may have a specific text pattern for different people in your life. Your phone recognizes this and will suggest text predictions accordingly, which are tailored further based on your own general texting patterns.

Image Recognition

For most, image recognition in the smartphone realm is analogous to face recognition. For instance, Apple’s iPhone X that makes use of AI algorithms for its Face ID, which can identify faces, even with changes to appearance like glasses vs. no glasses and beard growth. Anyway, as reported by Forbes, “[f]ace ID uses a combination of light projectors and sensors to take several images of your facial features… these technologies work together to build a 'detailed depth map of your face to recognize you in an instant.’”

Apart from Face ID, image recognition is also propelling health apps that can diagnose certain maladies, such as cancerous moles. With these apps, you can take a picture of any dermal anomaly, and the app will use a database that houses troves of data on cancerous versus benign moles, including what signs and symptoms go with each, to accurately diagnose what you have.

Digital Assistants

Finally, we can’t have a discussion of artificial intelligence for smartphones without talking about digital assistants. Whether it’s Siri, Alexa, Bixby or Cortana, digital assistants are improving with AI integration. They’re no longer simply replying to direct questions with pre-programmed answers — they’re also placing online orders, calling our friends and family, sending messages, playing songs, and so much more.

The Future of AI Smartphones

The future of smartphones lies in AI. True, AI has been around for a while, but as it relates to turning smartphones into even more intelligent phones, it’s still in its infancy. That is to say that while we have Siri today, the Siri of tomorrow may actually be able to hold a full conversation with you; the apps of today may be able to diagnose cancerous moles, but the apps of tomorrow may be able to diagnose a whole medical journal’s worth of illnesses; the predictive text of today may be able to know what you’re about to type, but the predictive text of tomorrow… well, the predictive text of tomorrow will probably be quite similar, except much more accurate.

In closing, as cool and advanced as our current AI features are, the future seems like a world of possibilities. Enjoy!