BARCELONA—This week, many technology companies are making announcements at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world’s largest mobile and communications trade show. Barron’s will report on all the major news from the event, as well as what’s happening in tech elsewhere.
Google Will Bring Back AI-Generated Images of People Soon
Alphabet’s
Google is aiming to bring back the ability to create images of people with its artificial-intelligence tool Gemini within weeks, according to its AI chief.
Google said last Thursday it would stop users from creating images of people on Gemini, following an online backlash around the tool’s treatment of race and ethnicity.
“A well-intentioned feature was, it turned out, applied too bluntly,” said Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google’s DeepMind AI unit, in a keynote interview at Mobile World Congress. “We’ve taken that feature offline while we fix that. We hope to have that back online in very short order, the next couple of weeks,” he said.
The furore didn’t look to have dampened Hassabis’s enthusiasm for AI, as he talked enthusiastically about its ability to revolutionize fields as diverse as drug discovery, materials science and pure mathematics.
Samsung Set to Launch Wearable Ring. Will Apple Follow?
Samsung Electronics
is showing off its wearable smart ring for the first time at Mobile World Congress. Meanwhile,
Apple
is still thinking about it.
Samsung confirmed at MWC that it plans to launch the Galaxy Ring—yes it sounds like something from the Marvel universe—before the end of the year.
While the Korean company wasn’t keen to confirm exactly what its capabilities are, it will focus on health tracking, with sleep and heart monitoring the top features—as well as a mysterious “Vitality Score” which will offer personalized health insights. The Galaxy Ring versions Barron’s saw came in three colors – gold, silver and black- and a range of sizes.
Smart rings are ostensibly more comfortable wearable options than a smartwatch, especially at night. The market is currently dominated by smaller companies such as Finland’s Oura Health.
However, that could soon change. Some people within
Apple
are pushing for the iPhone maker to also pursue smart-ring development, according to Bloomberg, citing an internal presentation. However, for now nothing is in active development.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on that report early on Monday.
Qualcomm Bets on AI Coming to Smartphones
Qualcomm
is hoping to be the next chip maker to get a big boost from artificial intelligence. On Monday, the company made a series of AI software and hardware announcements at Mobile World Congress.
First up is the task of getting AI to at least partially work on a mobile device rather than remote servers increasingly powered by
Nvidia’s
graphics-processing units. Qualcomm is looking to tackle that with its new AI Hub—giving developers access to more than 75 pre-optimized AI models for deployment on devices powered by the company’s processors.
Qualcomm is powering several AI-enabled smartphones on show at MWC, including
Samsung Electronics
’ new Galaxy S24 Ultra and Chinese company Honor’s Magic 6 Pro. However, it’s also hoping to make inroads into the PC market with its chips’ AI capabilities.
The company also said AI would help integrate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ultra Wideband (another type of wireless signal) in a single chip, allowing it to adapt better to different uses.
Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]
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