Time for a change
Mobile News looks back at the industry’s key appointments and departures over the past 12 months
Features - Elliot Mulley-Goodbarne
December 20, 2018
According to academics the media expectations of AI applications are too high which is putting a lot of pressure on developers
AI is “not just a vision” and will be pivotal in the future for Huawei, according to president of consumer software engineering Chenglu Wang.
Wang made this statement during a keynote session hosted by KMPG professor of management studies David De Cremer at Huawei’s Eco-Connect Europe event.
However, during the debate, Professor Rolf Pfeifer, who was formerly director of the AI laboratory at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, argues that AI is being “overhyped” and warned that there needs to be a sense of perspective in its development.
Pfeifer said: “There is a dangerous overhype for AI in many fields, such as medicine. There are huge expectations and this could lead to a dangerous discrepancy. The media has put a lot of pressure on this industry; it needs to be approached with caution.”
Before the debate, De Cremer delivered a presentation on the benefits of AI and its importance for businesses in the future, with an Accenture study showing that 85 per cent of executives want to invest more heavily in AI-related technologies over the next three years.
Wang spoke about Huawei’s vision for the future with regard to advances in AI, saying that it can also open up opportunities that haven’t yet been realised.
“AI is not just a vision; it is reality and I believe it will play a big part in the future for Huawei devices,” he said.
“The camera will be the ‘eyes of the phone’, while the speaker can be the ears. There is a lot of potential in AI that needs to be released.
“There are a lot of things we can innovate on together. In the near future, I believe all devices will be more personal to consumers. AI is very much a means to use functions we don’t even realise we have yet.”
Wang concluded: “For Huawei, AI is about efficiency and it needs to work for our consumers. It is about giving users the best experience and the best quality.”
