Without data privacy, the power of AI is worthless

Honor already has some AI features integrated, like allowing users to open text messages and other notifications just by seeing them, and linking apps like Yelp directly to navigation and ride-hailing apps, eliminating the copy-and-paste step.

At the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai this week, Honor unveiled new AI tools to detect the use of deepfakes in videos and simulate lenses that can reduce myopia during prolonged screen time.

Zhao emphasized that Honor's approach is to confine AI operations involving personal data to the smartphone — also known as on-device AI, as opposed to AI tools that use cloud computing to run.

“Without data security and user privacy protection, AI will be worthless,” Zhao said in Chinese, as translated by CNBC. “This has always been one of our value propositions.”

“User data will not be leaked” [the device]”This is a principle we abide by,” Zhao said.

The iPhone maker's AI product, Apple Intelligence, claims to use on-device processing and utilise a “server-based model” for more complex requests, and Apple says its new “private cloud computing” won't store any user data.

Honor says it develops the on-device AI in-house, and is working with Baidu and Google Cloud for other AI features.

“Overall, my view is that the development of AI to date has two directions,” Zhao said. “Network [cloud] AI is becoming more and more powerful. But we believe on-device AI will become more and more intimate and increasingly insightful in its capabilities and consumer empowerment.”

“This will give consumers more support and enable them to engage with the future world of AI,” he added.

Zhao noted that many generative AI applications, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, require massive amounts of computing power, far exceeding the battery capacity of a single smartphone.

This means you have to use the cloud, which raises questions about the security of data transfer.

Balancing AI capabilities with energy usage and data privacy is a “big challenge” for manufacturers, Zhao said.

He said systems that collect large amounts of user data to provide more personalized features become “powerful” objects compared to the individuals using the systems.

“The goal of future smartphone development is to empower individuals,” Zhao said.

“When an object becomes powerful, its smallness becomes apparent. I believe that mobile devices should empower and enable individuals.”

Honor's Magic V2 flip phone, which was launched in China last summer and in Europe earlier this year, won the “Best Smartphone in Asia” award at Shanghai MWC this week.

The Magic V2 folds up almost as thin as an iPhone.

Honor plans to launch its latest AI-equipped Magic V3 in July.

When asked if the new foldable device would be even thinner, Zhao simply replied, “Of course, we have to challenge ourselves, right?”