Honor CEO George Zhao (L) and GSMA CEO John Hoffman on stage at the Shanghai Mobile World Congress during an awards ceremony on June 27, 2024.
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HANGZHOU, China — The transformative power of artificial intelligence is of no value unless user data is protected, Chinese smartphone company Honor CEO George Zhao said in an exclusive interview with CNBC on Thursday.
His comments come as apple this month it announced that it will start rolling out personalized AI tools to some devices in the US this fall.
Honor already incorporates some AI features, such as enabling users to open text messages and other notifications just by looking at them, or eliminating copy-paste steps by connecting Yelp-like apps directly to navigation or navigation apps.
This week at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, Honor unveiled new AI tools for detect the use of deepfakes in videosand to simulate lenses that can reduce myopia during long hours of screen use.
Zhao emphasized that Honor’s approach is to keep AI functions involving personal data confined to the smartphone. It is also known as on-device AI and contrasts with artificial intelligence tools that use cloud computing to operate.
“Without data security and user privacy protection, artificial intelligence will become useless,” Zhao said in Mandarin, as translated by CNBC. “That’s always been one of our value propositions.”
“We say user data doesn’t go away [the device]”This is a principle we adhere to,” Zhao said.
Apple Intelligence, the iPhone company’s AI product, claims to use on-device processing and rely on “server-based models” for more complex requests. Apple Announces Its New “Private Cloud Compute” never stores user data.
Honor says the AI in its device is self-developed and the company is collaborating Baidu and Google Cloud for some other AI capabilities.
“Overall, my view is that the development of artificial intelligence to date has two directions,” Zhao said. “Network [cloud] AI is getting more and more powerful. But I think AI in the device, in its capabilities and in empowering consumers, will become more and more familiar, more and more understandable.”
“It will give consumers more support and help them interact with the future world of artificial intelligence,” he added.
Zhao pointed out that many productive AI applications, such as from OpenAI’s ChatGPT, require large amounts of computing power far beyond the battery capacity of a single smartphone.
This means they have to use the cloud, which raises questions on the security of data transfer.
Balancing AI capabilities with power use and data privacy is a “huge challenge” for manufacturers, Zhao said.
He said a system that collects a lot of user data to offer more personalized features becomes a more “powerful” object compared to the person using the system.
“In the future development of smartphones, our goal is to make the person more powerful,” Zhao said.
“When an object becomes more powerful, it will reveal the smallness of the individual in its presence. I believe that wearable end devices should empower and enable individuals.”
The Honor Magic V2, the latest foldable smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer, is on display at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Honor’s Magic V2 foldable phone, which launched in China last summer and in Europe earlier this year, won the ‘Best Smartphone in Asia Award’ at MWC in Shanghai this week.
The Magic V2 folds almost as thin as an iPhone.
Honor is set to launch the Magic V3 in July with the company’s latest AI features.
When asked if the new foldable would be even thinner, Zhao only said, “Of course, we have to challenge ourselves, right?”
