Huawei executives have confirmed that the Chinese original equipment manufacturer is seeking to develop an artificial intelligence assistant that is capable of recognizing human emotions. The company aims for the futuristic AI solution to meet the emotional needs of users by delivering a companion that understands more than just their commands. The plan has been confirmed by Huawei’s vice president of software engineering Felix Zhang at its annual global analyst summit in Shenzhen, China, according to a report by CNBC. The company is essentially envisioning a future wherein people will look for an emotional interaction with their personal assistants.
James Lu, director of AI product management at Huawei’s consumer business group, also said the software program is meant to ease loneliness by prolonging a conversation to make it more human-like. It’s no secret that the Shenzhen, Guangdong-based tech company has been working to create a digital assistant of its own for different use cases. Earlier last year, Huawei was reportedly building a digital assistant that is intended for use in households in China, with a team of more than 100 AI experts working on the project. Last June, Huawei was also said to be planning to add a digital assistant to its Wi-Fi routers. At this year’s Mobile World Congress, Huawei announced a networking solution that leverages AI and big data to allow scenario-specific automation for proactive business identification and end-to-end network management. Most recently, a report popped up claiming that Huawei plans to implement its new AI technologies into mobile devices in the form of the HiAssistant, HiVoice, and HiAI Android apps.
With the latest confirmation on the matter coming from Huawei’s executives themselves, the tech giant appears to be continuing its artificial intelligence bets and will be positioning such technologies as one of the main selling points of its future products. The recently launched Mate 10 and P20 series of Android flagships are both touting cutting-edge AI as their main feature allowing them to differentiate themselves from their rivals.