THE MACHINES

aren’t ready to replace us, yet. They can beat us at Dota 2 and Go, but can’t make up new games for us to play. Machines, algorithms and code are ultimately created by humans to execute predefined tasks. But we are making them smarter. And this definition of smart doesn’t mean “connected to the Internet”. No, this is on-device artificial intelligence and it comes at a considerable cost. These new processors and functions are the reason smartphones have breached the R20 000 mark.

Forget Siri and Google Assistant; artificial intelligence on hardware level is incredible, but not quite useful enough to eliminate a human. Well you still, for instance, need to press the shutter key and actually point the camera at something for the Huawei Mate 10 Pro’s headline AI feature to work. Just like the iphone X (ten) is spotty with the Face ID on the first day or so of use and then becomes nearly infallible.

Both those features work on the concept of machine learning via the neural processors built into the respective processing units. You know the way you build neural pathways when you learn a new fact or skill and then strengthen those pathways through repetition or revision? Ditto these new age CPUS. The result? Sometimes astonishing photographs and super secure device unlock methods.

Huawei was first to the party with the Kirin 970 processor and its neural processing unit built on top. This processor builds on a concept that Huawei used on the Kirin 960 devices like the Mate 9 and the P10 where the device analyses your device activity to predict behaviour and allocate resources.

That rudimentary AI now has dedicated hardware to even better recognise your use patterns. Engineers also fed the NPU with millions of carefully labelled images and the system established 13 scenarios that it can now automatically recognise and adjust the camera for. It doesn’t work flawlessly, like it can’t identify my dogs as dogs (maybe they don’t have Australian Cattle Dogs or German Shepards in China) and it mistook a bunch of flowers for a plate of food. But when it works it’s ridiculously good, even better than I could manage in manual mode. Crucially, of course, I still had to choose to take the picture.

The simulated aperture subject isolation stuff also gets an AI shot in the arm for more precise edge detection and more

GOOGLE ASSISTANT The OG universal artificial intelligence is, essentially, a talking version of the knowledge service. Google is great at serving up factoids, doing calculations and context awareness. It’s bizarrely less great at remembering personal information. I need to teach it who my wife is on every new device.

SIRI

Apple has quietly made Siri amazing. In IOS 11 Siri can sync your personal information across your Apple devices and it can dynamically decide which device is better placed to respond to you. There are also improvements in context awareness and the ability to type your interaction. That does, however cause some voice feedback confusion. BIXBY Samsung’s much-maligned service is the most powerful voice interface of the lot. You can tell Bixby to do almost anything on your device that you would ordinarily do with your fingers. It doesn’t learn your personal information, but you can teach it specific voice commands. People should give it more of a chance.

ALEXA

Amazon’s flagship product is a combination of the others, but more focused on getting you to buy things from Amazon. It’s fine for South Africa, but a bit pointless if you don’t have an army of Philips Hue lights or IP security cameras.