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Pin Amnesty International Humanity and Rabbit Handheld have garnered a great deal of press attention for their individual approaches to integrating generative AI with hardware. Humane, in particular, offers wearables as a look at life beyond the smartphone. Naturally, this question arises: What specifically is wrong with a smartphone? Although the form factor has stabilized, these devices are still out there in the world, in billions of hands.
Earlier this week, I met with Jerry Yu amidst a cacophony of noise at Deutsch Telekom’s Mobile World Congress booth. After a product demo and conversation, I admit I’m a fan of the product Brain.ai (aka Brain Technologies) Founder and CEO’s vision for the future of smartphones. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m completely convinced until I’ve had the opportunity to spend more time with the product, but it certainly paints a compelling picture of how generative AI will be the foundation of the next generation of devices.
The whole “future of smartphones” part may be an exaggeration, but at the very least, I suspect some of the biggest names in the field are currently examining how first-party generative AI effectively forms the backbone of a product’s operating system. But while phone companies may see the future, the interface may be murkier for consumers. The implementation turns the current smartphone operating system model on its head, requiring a demo to fully understand how it’s different and why it’s useful. Although I admit I’m not entirely sold on the pitch, seeing it in action highlights its effectiveness sharply.
The operating system isn’t completely separate from Google’s open OS, but only in the sense that it’s built on top of the Android kernel. As we’ve seen from Huawei’s HarmonyOS development under Trump, it’s entirely possible to create something different from Android using that as a base. Here, generative AI is more than just being integrated into the system, it is the basis for the way you interact with the device, how it responds and the interface it creates.
The idea of an “AI phone” is not an entirely new one. In fact, it’s a phrase you’ll hear a lot In the coming years. I guarantee you’ll be sick of it by December. AI/ML elements have been integrated into devices in some form for several years. Among other things, this technology is the basis of computational photography, which is the processing of data collected by the camera sensor that occurs on the chip.
However, earlier this month, Samsung became one of the first big companies to really embrace the idea of an “AI phone.” The difference here is the arrival of generative AI – the technology behind software like Google Gemini and ChatGPT. Again, a lot of integration is happening on the photography side, but it’s starting to filter into other aspects as well.
Image credits: Brian Heater
Given the amount of investment Google has made in Gemini, it stands to reason that this trend will only increase in the coming years. Apple will also enter this category sometime later this year. I can’t classify generative AI as a complete game changer in these devices yet, but it’s clear that those companies that don’t embrace it now will be left behind in the coming years.
Brain.ai’s use of technology is much deeper than other existing applications. From a hardware point of view, it’s a standard smartphone. In fact, the Deutsch Telecom deal that found Yue on display at the purple-filled booth means the OS will initially see the light of day via the device known as the T-Mobile REVVL here in the US (known as the “T Phone” in international markets like the EU). . The exact model, release date, and nature of the deal will be revealed “soon,” according to Yue.
However, the truth is that the Brain interface is designed to be hardware independent, adapting to the form factor in which it runs. This doesn’t mean hardware isn’t important, of course. For example, the T-Mobile REVVL Plus is, at its core, a budget phone priced around $200. It’s not flagship by any means, but it gives you good value for your money, including a Snapdragon 625 processor and dual rear cameras of 13 and 15 megapixels respectively. Although 2GB isn’t a lot of RAM, Yue insists that the Brain.ai OS can do more with less. Also, again, we don’t know what specific specifications the device will be available with at launch.
The interface starts with a static screen. From there, you can inquire about things through either a voice or text prompt. In one example, Yue asked the system to “recommend a gift for my grandmother, who can’t get out of bed.” From there, Brain goes to work not on fetching the response to the query, but on its own interface — in this case, aggregated e-commerce results. The resulting page is abstract from a design perspective – black text on a white background. The sentences alternate with boxes displaying the results (in this case, blankets and Kindle devices).
The query sits at the top. This, like much of the interface, is interactive. In this case, you can click to modify the search. Meanwhile, clicking on the image will add it to the shopping cart of the third-party e-commerce site, and you can check it out from there. I should point out that all of the results in the demo were pulled directly from Amazon. Yue says the system will attract about 7,000 retail locations at launch, and you can prioritize results by things like retailers and business size (if you prefer to support small businesses).
Image credits: Brian Heater
Shopping is the first example Li Yue shows, and many of the basics apply across the board. There is definitely consistency in design across features. This is due in large part to the fact that the device is already free of third-party apps. This represents a huge shift from the current smartphone landscape of more than 15 years ago.
“From a privacy and security perspective, we want to provide a new level of control that people don’t have now,” Yu said. “The computer’s understanding of you has now been packaged into different applications. These AI models are black boxes, they are recommendation machines that exploit our attention. We believe in explainable AI. We will explain to you, every step of the way, why we are making the recommendation. You have more people with AI than big tech black boxes.
Adaptability is another big selling point. The model improves recommendations and becomes more personalized to the user as more queries are run and modified. Of course, third parties were the main reason app stores revolutionized the industry. Suddenly you went from one company creating all your phone experiences to a system that exploits the intelligence and creativity of countless developers. Brain’s experiment will be a combination of what its 100-person team can produce and what an AI model can dream up. As the model improves, its functionality improves as well. Brain.ai relies on its own model of the underlying interface, but will rely on third parties like OpenAI and Google when it determines they are better equipped to answer a specific query.
Image credits: Brian Heater
There are limitations to what one can discover in a demo like this, so, as with many other items, I’ll have to wait until I have a shipping product in my hands to really evaluate the experience. I’m particularly interested in how it handles some applications, like photography. It’s worth noting that the REVVL line doesn’t have great cameras, so unless there’s a major upgrade, this isn’t a device for those who prioritize photos/videos.
The camera will also play an important role in the search. One example we discussed is taking a photo of a menu in a foreign country. Not only will it translate (similar to Google Lens), but it will also provide food recommendations based on your tastes. Yue also briefly demonstrated the system’s creation of images with a simple request that fits our setting: making purple sneakers. It did so quickly, and the only real hitch was the conference center’s connection speeds (which is ironic, given the settings).
Communication is vital here. The AI is processed outside the device. It discussed the possibility of adding some on-device processing, but Yue couldn’t confirm what it might look like at launch. I also didn’t get a very clear answer about the offline experience. I think a big part of the reason Deutsch Telekom is interested in the product is that it can’t exist in the same way without 5G. It’s reminiscent of Mozilla’s ill-fated Firefox OS and the early days of Chrome OS, or any number of other examples of a product losing important functionality when offline.
Image credits: Brian Heater
Yue founded Brain in 2015, and remained its sole employee until the CTO was appointed the following year (Yue remains the sole founder). Born in China, he first became involved with technology through his love of robotics and participation in the RoboCup robotic football tournament. At the age of 18, he founded the Chinese social app, Friendoc. Two years later, he co-founded Benlai.com, which is now one of the largest food delivery apps in the country. Yue has since returned to the Bay Area to run Brain.ai full-time. To date, the company has raised $80 million.
After nearly a decade, the Brain interface is almost ready for launch — and arriving at the perfect moment. The zeitgeist is focusing heavily on how generative AI powers experiences, from standalone devices like Rabbit and Humane Ai Pin to tech giants like Samsung promoting their own “AI phones.”
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