Big Tech Is Using ‘Powered by AI’ as a Marketing Gimmick, and It Needs to Stop

Mar. 30, 2024

Artificial Intelligence or AI has been around for decades, but it seems to be all the rage these days, particularly in the smartphone market. Every major smartphone release boasts “revolutionary” AI features. But are these advancements genuine, or simply marketing gimmick to drive sales? I have my thoughts on this and here’s why I think this needs to stop.

Powered by AI – The New Hype Word on the Block

Now Google already had some interesting features under its roof that it had worked on over the years but how could it not jump on this AI bandwagon? Soon, we saw the announcement for Bard (now, Gemini), which was Google’salternative to ChatGPT.

Its rushed development raised questions about Google, an AI leader seemingly outpaced by a non-profit. SoGoogle intended to include AI in all of its productsto stay in the competition.

I guess this is why they went full throttle on AI with the launch of their flagship Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, which boasted a bunch of “AI-powered” features. This triggered a domino effect.Samsung’s S24 launchfollowed suit, and “AI” became the industry’s new selling point. You can read all about thecoolest Galaxy AI featuresright here.

Now, I’m not against companies using the term AI if the product justifies its name. But my concern is that most of these “revolutionary” features are just incremental improvements of things we have already seen run on transformer models. Only a select few leverage the true potential of current AI’s generative capabilities.

Let’s take “Circle to Search” as an example. It was one of the most talked about features during the launch of the Galaxy S24 series. It captures the entire screen when you bring it up and lets you draw a circle around the subject you want to search for. Well, seasoned Android users would recognize it as a more accessible version of Google Lens that we’ve had for a long while.

It is common knowledge that working on these AI features takes a lot of resources, research, and development, which costs a lot of money. Since phones are usually released on a yearly cycle, people working on these projects usually don’t get enough time to polish the features to the tee. When they don’t bring the expected returns in terms of sales, development teams, and investors may have little to no motivation to continue working on them, thus, leading to abandonment.

Google is the biggest culprit when it comes to abandoning its projects as there is anentire website dedicated to projects that Google has killed off. Samsung and other OEMs are not far behind as they stop working on fleshing out and improving said features and jump on to the next thing. This leaves a bad taste in the mouths of consumers, eroding their trust in the brand as well. Plus any significant innovation that could have been part of a future update just gets left behind.Samsung showcasing AI features in S24 Ultra

Samsung’s Bixby exemplifies this issue. Once considered a prominent smartphone assistant with a dedicated button, it rarely gets mentioned today. The launch of Galaxy S24 could have been a good time to announce some new AI capabilities for Bixby but seems like it got left behind in favor of other glamorous features.

The “wow factor” of some of these AI features often overshadows their practicality. This is where the gimmick portion of the article’s headline comes in. Several users, even tech enthusiasts, rarely find themselves revisiting these features.

I wouldn’t say every AI feature that has come out recently is bad or a facade. The Summarization option in the Recorder app or the Call screening feature for spam calls are genuinely useful tools, that a lot of people use quite often.Replacing Google Assistant with Geminiis a good move, and having an onboard language model like Gemini Nano is a step in the right direction.Gemini Assistant on Pixel 8 Pro

But other features require the user to go out of their way to use it which is just inconvenient. Most people wouldn’t change their smartphone habits overnight. Even when they do try to use those AI features, the results can be underwhelming.

Take the Pixel 6’s Magic Eraser, for example. It seemed to perform wonders in promotional videos. But in real-world usage, it leaves much to be scrutinized as erased subjects leave a trail of smudged artifacts in the image.

Similarly, Samsung S24’s live call translation has issues understanding accents, and dialects and doesn’t work as well as it should. Bixby Text Call, Samsung’s alternative to Google’s Call screening never once properly transcribed the other person’s message for me. Instead, I had to reluctantly answer the calls just so I didn’t miss out on something important.

So what should companies and manufacturers should do instead? My advice would be to shift the focus from flashy features to user-centric solutions.

Imagine integrating Gemini seamlessly with Google Home for an intuitive smart home experience. Or, improving Live captions to make it multilingual and adaptive to content on your phone’s screen. These subtle improvements, the ones that operate quietly in the background, are the true hallmarks of a successful AI implementation.

As a tech journalist, I dive into the ever-evolving tech landscape with a particular interest for smartphones, apps, and gaming. With a passion for sharing insights, my articles blend expertise with a friendly touch—think of me as your friendly neighborhood tech support.