Smartphone AI, like Siri and Gemini, has a credibility crisis – a true agentic interface is the logical next step

I despise smartphone AI. It is arguably the most regressive development in consumer electronics, a spectacular misstep for mobile technology. The deeper I dive into so-called mobile AI, the more I’m left slack-jawed, wondering how features so fundamentally flawed could ever hit the shelf.

While AI’s potential is undeniable, today’s obsession with this shiny bauble is eroding the reputation of the world’s most formidable technology companies like Apple, Lenovo and Google, and there seems to be no alternative course.

Is the situation truly dire? It is worse than that. Imagine a Casio TI-84 calculator occasionally delivering an incorrect sum. Imagine a version of Microsoft Word that introduces, rather than corrects, misspellings. Imagine a national newspaper fabricating a front-page story. Today’s smartphone AI is a failure that surpasses these hypotheticals.