Do you really want an AI gadget?
(This story has been updated to correct a typo.)
Millions of Americans have unlocked the capabilities of “generative AI” over the past two years – beginning with OpenAI’s ChatGPT − and quickly followed by Google Gemini (formerly Bard), Microsoft’s CoPilot, Meta AI, and several others.
“Gen AI” tools have empowered consumers, students, and employees alike, to create text, photos, and other content -- from building a custom itinerary for a trip to Europe to helping draft business plans for entrepreneurs to creating images that can be freely used on a website or school or work presentation.
Much of the content is free, but for highly customized results or more advanced media creation, such as AI-generated videos on demand, many of these services require a paid subscription.
Whether it’s via a website or app, gen AI to date has been mostly an online “cloud” application, which requires an internet connection.
But as you look to buy new gadgets this fall and winter, perhaps as holidays gifts for the family, no doubt you’ll notice hardware-based AI as a key selling point for many of the digital devices you may be considering.
That is, AI is becoming baked into the tech itself.
For example, new laptops are billed as “AI PCs” with “CoPilot+” built into the Windows operating system. Apple is readying its “Apple Intelligence” for iPhone 15 and 16 running iOS 18. Samsung is promoting Galaxy AI across mobile devices − and there’s even Samsung’s Bespoke AI-powered appliances, like refrigerators and laundry machines.
So, why do you need AI built into hardware?
“Many people have become fascinated by AI, as they’ve found ways to make their lives and jobs more efficient,” says Dan Ackerman, Editor in Chief of Micro Center News, a recently formed news division of the popular computer and electronics retailer founded in 1979.
“And there are several benefits to local AI over cloud AI, beginning with better privacy and security,” continues Ackerman. “For example, you may not want everything uploaded to the cloud, like information tied to your taxes or a proprietary company document, which you don’t want to share publicly.”
“Cloud-based gen AI has its place, sure, but the future is looking like a hybrid model,” predicts Ackerman. “I think local AI is really where the focus will be for so much of what we're doing - for privacy, speed, cost, and efficiency reasons - and so pretty much any new laptop or desktop going forward will have not just a CPU and GPU [for graphics performance], but an NPU, a neural processing unit, that's capable of handling AI and running these large language models and image creation locally.”
Not all tech experts are sold on the value proposition of AI on device.
“Consumers are really not certain about what AI will bring as far as a return on investment,” maintains Carolina Milanesi, President and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, a Silicon Valley-based market research firm.
To Milanesi’s point, a device with AI tends to cost more than one without. For example, a Dell XPS 13 with a new Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor (256V Series), powered by AI, costs $1,399 to start, compared to $1,099 to start for a Dell XPS 13 laptop with the first-generation Intel Core Ultra Series processor (both with comparable specs).
“For certain products like smartphones, anything around camera or as intuitive as ‘circle to search’ might be the best elevator pitch for AI, but consumers will not be walking into a store to buy AI,” believes Milanesi, “though they will appreciate it when all other requirements are met.”
Google Gemini on Android devices
Available on select Android smartphones, like Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices, Google’s “Circle to Search” referenced by Milanesi lets users press and hold the Home button, and then draw a finger (or stylus pen) around anything on a phone’s screen, such as a cool landmark in a social media post or an actress in a Netflix show, and the phone will instantly do an online image search and tell you relevant information.
This works in any app and you don’t need to leave the app to perform this task, as the search results are shown on the bottom half of the screen (then you can save, share, and more). You can use Circle to Search in your real surroundings, too, such as if you like the pair of shoes worn by someone in front of you in line at the supermarket, point your camera to the footwear (no need to even snap a pic) and circle the item to see the brand, price, and more. Circle to search also works on text.
Similarly, Samsung’s Galaxy phones have an integrated Generative Edit feature, which uses AI to analyze any photo and make suggestions on how to enhance it, such as removing a shadow across someone’s face, fixing a crooked photo, or deleting Billy giving grandma the “rabbit ears” behind her back. You can have fun, too, like isolating a person, like a skateboarder who may only be half a foot in the air and repositioning him to make it look like he’s eight feet above ground – or even upside down.
(Anytime gen AI amplifies an image, a watermark will appear in the lower left of the image and in metadata to show it was enhanced.)
Drew Blackard, VP of Mobile Product Management for Samsung Electronics America, tells USA TODAY “since the launch of Galaxy S24 earlier this year, 75% of our users have actively engaged with our AI features. Recently, we saw 18 million instances of our Galaxy AI features being used by S24 series users in just one week — and that's only within the U.S.”
“That kind of data tells us consumers clearly want this,” Blackard adds.
In partnership with Google Gemini, Samsung’s Galaxy AI also lets you live transcribe a call with someone who speaks another language or summarize a conversation with bulleted highlights. “Chat Assist,” on the other hand, includes enhanced messaging features such as suggested replies and proofreading.
What do customers say, though?
HP is one of the many computer manufacturers embracing AI PCs, bundled with a CPU, GPU and NPU.
“Once customers understand what’s possible with AI on device, it’s a no-brainer,” shares Sam Chang, Senior Vice President and Division President of Consumer PC Solutions at HP.
“You’re getting cost savings since you don’t need to pay for a subscription, it’s more secure and private [than the cloud], and you get a faster response by running the model locally,” Chang said in an interview at HP Imagine, the company’s annual event in Palo Alto, in late September.
Putting the 'personal' back into personal computers
According to semiconductor giant Intel, AI PCs are the fastest growing PC segment, with Intel the leading provider in this segment, having shipped more than 15 million devices since December 2023 -- and on track to ship more than 40 million before the end of the year, says the company.
“Customers are very excited by AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra CPUs,” says Chris Tobias, General Manager, Americas Technology and Global Platform ISV Team Lead at Intel Corporation, “but perhaps it’s true the benefits of AI on a PC are not fully comprehended by consumers.”
“This confusion can result in hesitancy to adopt a new PC,” Tobias adds. “The perception that AI is ‘scary’ or ‘unnecessary’ stems from a lack of awareness about its potential benefits.”
Tobias points out people already use AI daily through voice assistants, photo enhancements and grammar checkers, without even realizing it.
“Once consumers see how AI on a PC can personalize their experience, streamline workflows, and boost performance—particularly in a seamless, secure environment—they tend to be more open to adopting it.”
“Unlike free, web-based AI tools, AI on a PC allows for local processing, which keeps data more secure, reduces latency, and improves performance,” Tobias adds.
AI PCs aren’t just about language models or image creation, but can also aid in extending battery life, smarter and faster video editing for content creators, and can analyze your own content for a more tailored experience.
AI PCs are forecast by Gartner to grow 165% year over year into 2025 and account for 43% of PCs, cites Tobias, which includes products from Intel competitors like AMD and Qualcomm.
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On October 1, Windows announced new Copilot+ PC features coming soon, including “Click to Do” (simplify your workflow by placing an interactive overlay on top of your screen, enabling suggested quick actions to appear over images or text); improved Windows Search (find files by describing them in your own words); and “Super Resolution in Photos” (enhance your lower-resolution photos into high-quality images without worrying they’ll look blurry or pixelated).
Apple all-in on AI, too
While not quite ready for last month’s much-hyped iPhone 16 launch, AI – what Apple is stylizing as “Apple Intelligence” − will be available some time in October. It’s a suite of tools and technologies to empower users to perform several tasks on an iPhone not previously available – while protecting your privacy at the same time, the company says.
You’ll be able to ask the AI to help draft emails and iMessages and other text for you; to create images based on what you ask for as a “prompt” (request); to record, transcribe, and summarize audio; and a smarter Siri that’s more conversational and contextual along with many other AI features.
Similar to Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices, iPhone users will soon be able to remove unwanted subjects in photos, too, along with other handy AI tools. Speaking of photography, by year end Apple Intelligence will let iPhone users leverage the new touch- and pressure-sensitive Camera Control button along the right-hand side of iPhone to analyze objects you point the camera lens at, such as identifying a dog breed.
But again, Apple Intelligence is more MIA than AI at this point – but it’s around the corner. If consumers want it.
Marc Saltzman is the host of theTech It Out podcast and theTech Impact TV show, and the author of the upcoming book,Apple Vision Pro For Dummies (Wiley)