eBusiness Weekly
Tinashe Jambo
Apple Inc recently announced its new range of smartphones along with the A11 bionic chip which they say has a neural engine which implies it has many interconnected elements processing information simultaneously, adapting and learning from past patterns.
According to APPLE
“A11 Bionic neural engine is designed for specific machine learning algorithms and enables Face ID, Animoji and other features.”
This means your smartphone now has artificial intelligence. For example the Animoji (animated emoji) will use the Face ID hardware face-scanning features of the iPhone X to create custom 3D animated emojis based on your own facial expressions.
Contextually your mobile phone is processing your natural actions this is different from Snapchats’s facial tracking. So how is this possible? Let me briefly introduce you to machine learning.
Machine learning
Machine learning is a branch of Artificial Intelligence (Intelligence exhibited by machines) that deals with creating algorithms that can learn from data. In this particular application APPLE is enabling your iPhone to learn from your face. So what does this mean ?
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Your phone will soon be able to learn your mood since it looks back at you as you use it. The face-ID feature though it’s currently activated by the user to save battery. With advances in battery technologies and improved power balancing through APPLE’s neural engine it could end up a background service on your smartphone. Your phone will be able to help you control your emotions and possibly advise your loved ones to make you feel better when you are down or advise them of your excitement. Of course this will not be without your consent.
Natural Input
Now that your phone can interpret your gestures, match that with your voice and process that data. You might be able to respond to messages using your voice or facial expressions vs having to type. Oh well at least not yet.
Augmented Reality
APPLE showed off new augmented reality demos to show its new augmented reality software platform “ARKit” and power of the new camera and A11 Bionic chip. The demos, which ranged from gaming to sports, showed off high-fidelity visuals placed dynamically in the real world, viewable through the iPhone’s camera lens. Remember Pokemon go?
This means your iPhone is able to place objects in the physical world. Online shopping might be easier as you may be able to see how that piece of furniture might look in your house or how that dress will look on you.
It will be interesting to see what features APPLE brings with the A11 bionic chip. Even more interesting is the apps that will be made to utilise the functionality of this chip. I am sure right now, companies, developers, entrepreneurs and researchers are still trying to figure out what these machine learning capabilities are best at, and what the consumer use cases could be.
Expect to see a lot new innovations as software and hardware platforms evolve. To be better prepared get yourself an iPhone 8 or iPhone X. The only thing to look forward to in the future is the amazing technology.
Tinashe Jambo is a technology enthusiast and an innovator@tinashejambo, [email protected]. Apple’s animoji (animated emoji) demo video:https://youtu.be/urGXs_jLoJo. Augmented reality virtual fitting. https://youtu.be/F-3qC4q8toU.
