Every time a new high-end smartphone is presented, there has been talk that the mobile has artificial intelligence. It is the case of the Google Pixel 2, or it was the case of the iPhone X, with the A11 Bionic processor. However, the truth is that mobiles do not have artificial intelligence, it is a lie. They have Machine Learning.
The lie of mobile phones with artificial intelligence
It was not enough to say that they are smartphones (smartphones in English), but now it is also claimed that mobile phones have artificial intelligence. But in reality, it is a publicity lie. Of course, it seems that a mobile with artificial intelligence is better than a mobile without artificial intelligence, right? But there are several factors to consider.
1.- Mobiles have Machine Learning, not artificial intelligence
While it is true that it is claimed that mobiles have artificial intelligence, it is actually Machine Learning. Is not the same? Not really. A mobile with Machine Learning is actually, translating from English, a learning machine. A machine that learns from consequences. We will explain it in a simple way.
Suppose that a machine has to offer us our favorite food, and there are two possible dishes. A really smart machine might be able to figure out what our favorite dish is, and recommend it. A machine that learns simply limits itself to offering us any kind of dish. Whether you get it right or wrong, it is data that is stored, and that it will use in the future to recommend the right dish.
If we combine all this in a single platform, and with users from all over the world, it is possible to know, for example, when a user wants to type a word with the keyboard, simply by the keys they have selected, even if they made a mistake. It is possible to know how to improve a photo in Photoshop, simply by considering how similar photos have improved in Photoshop other thousands of users in the world. This, multiplied by hundreds of thousands of users, offers us a machine capable of acting correctly. But not intelligently.
The machine is not capable of thinking or making a decision, it is only capable of choosing using the data it has from previous situations.
2.- An additional processor does not make the mobile smarter
Some new mobiles have a single processor for artificial intelligence. This is the case of the iPhone X. Is it the smartest mobile because it has an additional processor? No. Actually, there were already mobiles with Machine Learning. In fact, our mobiles already have Machine Learning, and it is not something new. However, Machine Learning consumes resources from the main processor. And the main processor is not optimized for Machine Learning. Just as there is a GPU in addition to a CPU to perform all the graphics processes, there is an additional processor to take care of Machine Learning.
But it is not a novelty either. It is not that mobile phones now have three processors. In reality, mobiles have several processors. The CPU and GPU are two examples, but they also have a processor for the camera, as well as a processor for mobile connectivity, or for WiFi and Bluetooth. They are independent processors from the main processor that have optimal structures for the work they perform.
So, mobiles do not have Artificial Intelligence, nor do they have a revolutionary processor. It is simply the same thing that already existed until now, but that has become somewhat more relevant.