AI-powered devices are soon going to be very important and even become an extension of ourselves – sifting through messages, generating replies, and performing other administrative and work-related tasks. At the same time, their widespread adoption poses challenges for the tech sector, delegates at the BEYOND Expo were told this morning.
A Friday morning panel discussion on the topic, held as part of the expo’s Consumer Tech Summit, brought together moderator Liu Yukan, tech editor of Phoenix’s news website ifeng.com; Carl Pei, co-founder of Nothing, a company that manufactures consumer electronics; and JK Liu, co-founder of camera manufacturer Insta360.
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Pei noted that it would be important for AI-powered devices to be able to make the right judgements, citing the controversies surrounding Google’s Gemini. The ChatGPT rival was found to be generating historically inaccurate images, prompting an apology from Google.
JK Liu, on the other hand, stressed the importance of privacy and said that governments and relevant institutions “need to implement strict regulations.” Referencing leaks of institutional data from recent years, he said: “If data [collected by AI] is leaked, it could have significant consequences.”
The panel felt that innovation in the area of AI and personal devices would come from companies such as Meta and Microsoft. The former, Pei said, was “ambitious” and with a great deal of capital. Microsoft, on the other hand, would benefit from its creative leadership, which has already borne fruit in the new CoPilot Plus laptops that come with an AI assistant built in.
“This is the most interesting AI device that I have seen so far,” JK Liu said.
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Since its inaugural session in 2021, the BEYOND summit has established itself as one of Asia’s largest tech and innovation events. This year’s iteration will run until 25 May at the Venetian Macao and focuses on three main areas – consumer tech, climate tech and healthcare.
Panels at today’s Consumer Tech Summit include discussions of robotics, augmented reality, and generative AI.
