AI Revolution at Home: Unveiling the Google Pixel 9 Pro and Microsoft Recall

At times, that’s how it functions. You can see this in the new Google Pixel 9 Pro smartphone, which provides innovative photo editing features and a digital assistant that listens to your inquiries and replies like a familiar companion.

Other times, not so much. Just think about the latest Windows Copilot+ PCs with AI. Indeed, they’re stylish and robust machines, but their AI functionalities seem barely worth the hassle. Currently, these computers do not come equipped with their most awaited feature, Microsoft Recall, an AI-driven tool designed to simplify your daily tasks by retaining nearly all your actions on the computer.

However, as a member of the Windows Insider program — which anyone can join, by the way — I managed to get my hands on Recall and explored it thoroughly. The experience was not entirely positive. When it functions correctly, it’s a useful way to maintain your digital records, but for the time being, it’s too glitchy and inconsistent to rely on.

I had a far more enjoyable experience with the Pixel 9, which is utilizing AI in various ways, both playful and utilitarian.

Let’s start with Recall, a product criticized by some as a significant threat to privacy. Picture a data burglar accessing all that accumulated information. Nevertheless, Microsoft states that Recall data is encrypted and never disclosed online. For a data thief to access it, they would require direct physical access to the device, and if that ever occurs, you have numerous other cybersecurity issues to contend with.

Recall operates using an AI that captures a screenshot every few seconds, subsequently indexing whatever appears on your display, including text and visuals. Hence, if you search Recall for “Donald Trump,” you will not only discover your documents mentioning his name, but also web pages you’ve browsed that showcase his image.

Excellent resources for a journalist with a weak memory. If only it functioned more effectively.

The interface consists of thumbnail visuals, which can often be perplexing and hard to decipher. The AI’s image assessment is inventive, but not inventive enough. When I looked for images of police, a page I had browsed weeks earlier surfaced, featuring Gene Hackman in his role as a detective in “The French Connection.” Not too shabby. Yet I also received an unrelated random page I’d visited, depicting a woman adorned in a World War II Army uniform. Oops.

Most frustrating of all, Recall frequently exhibited forgetfulness. Numerous websites I had explored were never recorded whatsoever. That’s a deal-breaker for me. I don’t require a computer to perform my forgetting for me.

Microsoft acknowledges that the present version needs improvement. However, it’s quite disappointing to unwrap your brand-new Christmas laptop, only to discover that its most thrilling feature may not be ready until next Christmas.

I was much more satisfied with the Pixel 9, equipped with a variety of intelligent features that primarily operate effectively. One quirky favorite is Add Me, a method to insert yourself into a group photo when you’re left holding the camera. First, arrange the group, leaving a little space for your non-existent self, and capture the picture. Then pass the camera to someone else, stand in the empty spot, and say “cheese.” When your friend takes your picture, the AI integrates it into the group image.

The Pixel 9’s AI can also enhance your video soundtracks. Are multiple individuals speaking simultaneously? You can modify the volume for each speaker and even diminish any ambient noise, allowing their voices to come through more clearly.

Less efficient but still stylish is a feature that enables you to replace the background of a photo with an AI-generated image of something else — a forest, a church, or the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral. Just instruct the Pixel regarding the type of background you desire, and it will be filled in. The outcomes can be somewhat unsettling, with the peculiar blur and distorted shapes typical of AI artistry. Nonetheless, if you don’t scrutinize too closely, it’s rather acceptable.

For something more useful, there’s Call Notes, which enables you to record telephone conversations, produces a transcript, and formulates a summary of the dialogue. Activate it, and you’ll receive a verbal alert indicating that the call is being recorded. Thus far, none of the individuals I’ve contacted have objected.

The call summary option is underwhelming. For reasons unknown, it sometimes does not work, particularly during longer discussions. However, it’s not entirely ineffective. I can copy and paste the transcript into Google’s cloud-based AI application Gemini, and obtain a summary from there.

The Pixel 9 still relies on cloud-based AI for support, yet many of its most impressive features, including much of the advanced photo editing, occurs completely on the device itself, powered by a robust new AI processor. It’s a glimpse of future possibilities. The sector’s long-term objective is to develop AI models as proficient as ChatGPT, but compressed into mobile gadgets that won’t require transferring our personal information to the cloud for analysis. Each device will serve as an additional brain, secure and independent, acquainted with our professional and personal lives, our preferences and likes, and poised to deliver the information we require, potentially even before we inquire.

This suggests we might eventually unveil Christmas gadgets that are intelligent enough to elucidate their functions, without assistance from individuals like myself.

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Hiawatha Bray can be contacted at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeTechLab.