Google's new phone to run AI on-device

Google on Wednesday said its latest premium-priced Pixel phone would have powerful generative AI models running independently on the device. The announcement by Google caps the autumn release season for big tech hardware that saw Apple unveil the iPhone 15 series and Meta officially launch its latest VR headset.

Running on a powerful chip, Google's Pixel 8 Pro would carry out certain AI functions on the device itself instead of relying on transfers from cloud data centers that require heavy bandwidth. Big tech's hardware release season has featured many promises of AI enhancements, including Amazon teasing an upgrade of its Alexa voice assistant to function in a more human-like and "smart" fashion.

As with the other announcements, Google said that many of these AI powers were at an early phase and would be enhanced gradually.