Imagine a phone that knows what you want to do next and proactively helps you move forward with your tasks. That’s what T-Mobile parent Telekom and the folks at Brain AI teamed up to achieve, unveiling their Concept AI Phone at MWC 2024. The vision is to replace the familiar app-based interface and workflow with AI that naturally processes your requests and generates its own user interface on the fly. In practice, things are a little less glamorous now, but it’s still an interesting attempt to reinvent the smartphone wheel.
The concept phone idea is easy to describe. Instead of presenting you with a home screen filled with apps that all serve a specific and inflexible purpose, the handset strips away all that and, by default, gives you just one choice: a big, friendly button you can tap to interact with the built-in Natural AI. a big action The model itself, as Brain calls it, mainly works on the device itself, powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but it can pull the necessary information and data from the Internet. This AI-based approach should bring the action you want to take to the fore, rather than forcing you to hop from app to app to get what you want.
AI can guide you through the entire process from idea generation to product purchase
Brain AI founder Jerry Yue compares his vision to the way the internet worked before Google. You’d either have to know where to look to find what you want, or you’d have to scroll through pages of keywords on Yahoo instead of searching and finding exactly what you need with Google. That’s how apps work, in his opinion. Another flaw he sees with apps is that they are often built with engagement in mind, making users dependent on them, or with only one purpose. With artificial intelligence, he hopes to break these boundaries and make the phone serve as a proactive gatekeeper more than the current approach where you have to put a lot of thought into using the tool itself.
In practice, it’s clear that the concept phone is still in its early stages – which is probably why it’s a concept. Telekom and Brain have shown just a few use cases that seem like features you would only need from time to time. You can use AI to book your flight, which allows you to combine your voice and an on-screen interface to navigate through the different options and book your flight right there. Another demo involved asking AI to recommend a gift for someone special in your life, with options to buy directly from Amazon available. It is not clear when and how you need to set up your details such as shipping or payment address.
Brain AI founder Jerry Yue unveils concept phone on stage at MWC 2024
Another aspect completely missing from the current demo is the fact that phones are primarily communication devices for many people, with texting and social media barely mentioned. That’s probably why, during the demo, staff were quick to admit that you can still easily access the phone’s apps by swiping up on its home screen to reveal the app drawer. They explained that while the concept puts AI input at the center, it still lets you choose between an AI experience and classic apps.
It is possible that this will change in later stages, but for now it is a reasonable approach. Instead of completely changing the way phones work to communicate their vision to users, it will still be possible to access vital features and tools that you might otherwise miss with an AI phone.
This kind of AI concept is not something we haven’t seen before. The Rabbit R1, unveiled at CES 2024, takes a similar approach that somehow takes it a step further. Unlike Telekom’s concept phone, it comes in a new form that differs from a phone and does not offer access to applications at all. It seems that the idea of Telekom and Brain could be a little more realistic in the long run, precisely because it is not limited to not showing any applications.
Brain also offers its Natural AI as an iPhone app, launching in 2021, where it’s ironically just one more app in a sea of millions. According to the App Store description, the app appears to be limited to a similarly small set of features, though it appears to include recipes and food. While the app has a solid 4.7-star rating, recent reviews highlight problems with the purchase process, with some calling the app slow and a “scam,” indicating that Brain and Telekom still have a long way to go before they reach the lofty goal of an AI phone you can trust as your gatekeeper.