A forward looking report on tech trends from Ericsson ConsumerLabs found survey respondents think artificial intelligence will replace smartphones – and do so in just five years.
The Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report, compiled by the Swedish telecom equipment vendors ConsumerLabs division, is representative of 1.1 billion people in 24 countries at the most broad, and 46 million urban smartphones users in 10 major cities at the most narrow, according to the company.
Based on responses, ConsumerLabs found “smartphone users believe AI will take over many common activities, such as searching the net, getting travel guidance and as personal assistants. These are areas already being addressed by current generation AI interfaces in smartphones.”
According to the report, 85% of people with smartphones surveyed think “wearable electronic assistants will be commonplace within five years. “One in two of the respondents believes they will be able to talk to household appliances, as they do to people. … This way of interacting with objects and surroundings would be possible with an AI interface.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, the report found. Consumers surveyed seemed ready to take interactions with AI to much more advanced levels.
For instance, 44% think “an AI system would be as good as a teacher and one third would like an AI interface to keep them company. Furthermore, a third would even rather trust the fidelity of an AI interface than a human for sensitive matters. 29% agree they would feel more comfortable discussing their medical condition with an AI system.”
