Artificial Intelligence On Smartphones: How Does It Work And What Benefits Does It Bring?

New technologies improve the smartphone experience and facilitate some activities.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in smartphones is a concept we first met a year ago, and we will listen to it more and more often in the near future. Be prepared for this, it is a natural evolution of technology. And although the term artificial intelligence may scare you a little, especially if you’re a fan of the sci-fi genre, don’t worry. Your phone will not command or control your life.

Artificial intelligence for smartphones introduced a year ago Huawei. It’s Kirin 970 processor was the first on the market with a dedicated neural unit that takes care of a specific type of computation, helping the processor and graphics chip with certain activities. This was followed by an apple company that uses AI to identify faces as part of unlocking the phone.

Today, a year later, Huawei has a Kirin 980 processor with a second-generation neural unit, and in a few days it will introduce the Mate 20 series smartphones, which make full use of it. Other manufacturers are also talking about the use of artificial intelligence. Not everyone uses neural unit processors, but this is not necessary for certain types of operations. And artificial intelligence is gradually coming to the middle-class devices, the pioneer in this direction is again Huawei with the Mate 20 lite smartphone.

How Does Artificial Intelligence Work On A Smartphone?

To put it very simply, AI takes care of certain types of calculations that improve the specific functions of smartphones. In the case of phones with premium processors, a separate neural unit is designed for artificial intelligence, so that the AI ​​does not steal the computing power of the processor and at the same time can perform really complex operations. The neural unit with artificial intelligence is designed and trained for these operations, thanks to which it can e.g. real-time to identify what the camera phone sees and automatically adjust the scene settings.

Not all phones that use artificial intelligence have a separate neural unit. In this case, the calculations are performed directly in the processor, but again, these are algorithms for which artificial intelligence has been trained. However, they do not reach the same complexity as processors with a neural unit. In practice, this means that your phone’s camera cannot recognize so many scenes and objects.

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Artificial Intelligence Is Most Often Encountered In Photography

AI brings several practical functions and minor improvements. You don’t even know that many of them are responsible for artificial intelligence, because the manufacturer doesn’t point it out. This applies to unlocking the phone with a face in the case of Apple phones. You, as the user, simply see the result that your phone has recognized you or not.

Regardless of the phone manufacturer, you will most often encounter artificial intelligence when taking photos. Many smartphones today use artificial intelligence to recognize the scene and apply the appropriate settings. An example is highlighting a color when shooting a green or blue sky. The colors are highlighted, which, while somewhat spoils the fidelity of the scene, on the other hand, it looks great on social networks. Huawei P20 Pro can recognize up to 19 different categories of objects. In addition to the mentioned greenery and sky, this also includes pets, text, fireworks, a podium and a sunset. The idea is obvious- AI adjusts camera settings for you, making it easier for you to create the perfect photo. Artificial intelligence studied hundreds of thousands of photos for this purpose in order to be able to design a perfect result.

AI also helps to better capture scenes with a high dynamic range, even when using a front camera. It also enhances the shooting of portrait photos with a blurred background. Huawei also uses it to create advanced image stabilization, so you can shoot handheld at night or create really well-stabilized video without the use of additional accessories. At the IFA exhibition, the Chinese manufacturer presented the use of artificial intelligence in the Kirin 980 processor, even when changing the background of the scene during video recording, resp. with detailed tracking of limb movement. Everything took place in real-time.

The capabilities of artificial intelligence are manifested not only before the camera is released, but often also in image processing. That’s why many of this year’s phones produce better quality photos, although they have very similar hardware to their predecessors. We are thinking of several of this year’s flagships. We also met with artificial intelligence in the new Huawei Mate 20 Lite. Artificial intelligence capabilities often vary depending on whether the phone was equipped with a dedicated neural unit.

Also Read: Main Differences Between Augmented Reality [AR] & Virtual Reality

Huawei As A Leader In The Mobile AI Segment

Although the use of artificial intelligence in mobile photography is gradually becoming the standard, Huawei is practically the only manufacturer that uses AI in other ways. At this year’s MWC exhibition in Barcelona, ​​e.g. let artificial intelligence be driven by Porsche cars in his smartphone. However, it does not currently offer this feature to end-users. Yet.

He also uses artificial intelligence to sort and categorize photos in an album by objects, location, or people in photos. Yes, there is something like Photos on every Android phone, but there is a powerful data center in charge of the process. In the case of Huawei smartphones, the whole process takes place directly on the phone. The Kirin 980’s neural unit can process 4,500 photos per second!

In Huawei phones, AI also ensures that Android runs and mobile applications keep up fast, even after months of use. Artificial intelligence can also actively suppress ambient noise during a call in real-time for higher quality calls. Or it speeds up the translation process from foreign languages. AI also has the potential to improve mobile gaming, provided that developers optimize for artificial intelligence from Huawei. She has to understand applications in order to be able to get the most out of them.

What Is Middle-Class Artificial Intelligence?

According to Huawei, the Mate 20 Lite is the first mid-range smartphone to offer artificial intelligence. The fact is that AI features were already offered by its direct competitors, but they were only photographic features. However, Mate 20 lite uses AI not only to recognize scenes and objects, improve blurred backgrounds and create portraits or apply HDR when taking selfie photos but also to increase the quality of a phone call or to automatically categorize photos in the gallery. Mate 20 lite can also make shopping easier, but this feature is linked to the Amazon store, which most users in Slovakia probably won’t use.

If you miss these features, remember that we are only at the beginning of a long journey. Mate 20 Lite is the first mid-range smartphone with advanced use of artificial intelligence and if you are wondering how this technology will go, follow us in the coming weeks. On October 16th, Huawei will introduce the flagship of the Mate 20 series and they will tell us clearly what the next AI will bring in smartphones.

Other societies also come up with various uses of artificial intelligence. The manufacturer of the Android system itself is especially active. Many of its features, however, require an Internet connection, as the calculations do not take place directly on the phone but in the cloud. This applies to the Lens function and also to the latest use of artificial intelligence, which can make phone calls to restaurants and make reservations on your behalf. In English only.

Also Read: Augmented Reality | Types, Characteristics, Advantages & Disadvantages Of AR