“We want to introduce emotional interactions,” said Felix Zhang, VP of Software Engineering at Huawei, in an interview with CNBC. “We believe that in the future all of our end users will want to interact with the system more passionately.”

If the movie ‘Her’ comes to mind when hearing about Huawei’s plans, executives said they were inspired by the film. The protagonist in Her falls in love with his digital assistant who adapts to his emotional needs.

Today’s interactions with digital assistants like Siri are quick but emotionless and scripted experiences. Huawei wants their future assistant to be able to continue a conversation longer for a more natural and personal discussion.

“Huawei’s new digital assistant, powered by artificial intelligence, will try to continue the talks as long as possible so that the user does not feel he is alone,” said Editor Lu, Director of AI at Huawei’s consumer business group.

The company’s priority continues to be improving the intelligence of its assistant to ensure it’s able to carry out tasks without a user having to touch their devices in many cases.

“The first step is to give your assistant a high IQ, and then you have to give him a high percentage of EQ emotions,” continues Lu.

Prioritising intelligence makes sense, nobody wants a chatty assistant — digital or otherwise — who ultimately cannot do their job.

Do you think adding emotions to digital assistants is a good idea?

The post Huawei wants to develop the first digital assistant with emotions appeared first on AI News.

Many flagship smartphones are launching with dedicated AI chips — including, of course, Huawei’s very own Mate 10. Over the course of the next year, we expect these chips to be available in most high-end devices.

Research firm Counterpoint Technology forecasts that more than half a billion smartphones that will be shipped around the world in 2020 will have AI capabilities at the chipset level.

The current abilities of these devices are impressive, but limited. Huawei’s alliance with Baidu has the ability to unlock more of their potential. Robin Li Yanhong, Baidu’s chairman and chief executive, said the firm’s partnership with Huawei will “kick off the AI-powered intelligent devices era”.

Huawei and Baidu are specifically collaborating on an AI-powered platform alongside related technologies, internet services, and content.

“With our strength in research and development, Huawei will work with Baidu to promote industrial innovation and realise [the development] … of the next generation of smartphones,” said Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, in a statement.

Baidu has often been described as the ‘Google of China’ for its influence and innovation. Like Google, Baidu has been putting an increased focus on artificial intelligence.

Huawei, like many manufacturers, will be hoping to combat Apple in the AI-powered smartphone market. Counterpoint Research believes Apple will lead the world’s AI-capable chip market through 2020 as its Bionic chip gets adopted across its whole portfolio of devices.

What are your thoughts on the AI partnership?

The post Huawei and Baidu form alliance to lead in AI-powered smartphones appeared first on AI News.