Imagine a consumer who is renovating his house and is browsing an e-commerce platform for materials. The platform’s mobile app uses predictive analytics to offer items based on the user’s browsing and purchasing history.Â
However, with generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), the software creates a comprehensive architectural plan for a space, lists all of the necessary products, and determines which are accessible in the platform’s inventory.Â
Customer service is just one of the many areas where generative AI has the ability to revolutionize how businesses operate. With smartphones acting as the major interface through which people engage with applications, businesses will likely scramble to incorporate this new technology into their existing apps or develop new ones that have generative AI capabilities.Â
According to GSMA Intelligence data, the Philippines had 168.3 million cellular mobile connections as of the beginning of 2023. Between two firms launching versions of a revolutionary generative AI-powered tool, the one with a mobile app has a better chance of reaching a broader audience and perhaps having a greater influence on its users.Â
However, in order to fully unlock the potential of generative AI apps, organizations must overcome a number of constraints related to mobile device restrictions, cloud server concerns, data privacy and security challenges, and data integrity.Â
AI on the edgeÂ
One impediment to generative AI-powered mobile apps is that mobile devices still lack the computing resources required by Large Language Models (LLMs). Cloud servers do not entirely alleviate this issue because they are better suited to computationally heavy operations like training deep learning models and LLMs.
In addition, AI systems that rely on transferring data to a centralized server are unable to provide fast response. Latency causes delays that jeopardize the timeliness of AI-generated insights, while also incurring large bandwidth costs owing to continual data transfer. Â
The key to unlocking the full potential of mobile and edge AI is to use a strategic approach to model architecture, effective data management, and harnessing the device’s natural processing power.Â
This involves processing activities that need real-time interaction with AI systems and users, as well as other machine learning procedures, at the device level. Moving it closer to the network edge improves overall speed while increasing user privacy by reducing the quantity of data transferred.Â
Better performance with less computing loadÂ
Reducing the device’s burden while utilizing AI is another technique to boost performance. Model quantisation, for example, is a process comparable to how huge assets, such as music and films, are compressed before being sent to an email. This is accomplished by rounding numbers in AI-generated data, hence lowering the amount of storage space used within the model.Â
A similar technique, GPTQ, simplifies data in an AI model after training. This is comparable to a lengthy classical work that is recast in simpler language, resulting in fewer pages but preserving the original’s fundamental themes and concepts.
Another process, LoRA, searches for patterns and connections in the training data to improve the AI model’s predictions. By allowing the model to focus on the parts of its datasets that are important to predictions, the AI model generates better predictions with less resources.Â
Improving data privacy, security, and synchronisationÂ
Other considerations for companies when using mobile AI include data privacy and security, as well as maintaining high levels of data synchronization. While moving processing to the edge improves user privacy and data safety, it may be improved even further by using strong data encryption techniques. Â
Data integrity, like data privacy and security, is important to mobile AI implementation. Without the latter, edge devices and AI applications are unable to provide the desired value in the form of insightful insights, analytics, and improved decision-making. Â
A cohesive data platform that can handle numerous data formats is one such technique for successfully synchronizing data between edge devices and centralized servers or the cloud. Data integrity and consistency are preserved throughout a network by allowing AI models to access and connect with local data sources, whether online or offline. As a result, AI applications can be faster, more reliable, and adaptable to a variety of scenarios.Â
Simplicity is keyÂ
Given the current limitations of smartphone technology and the inherent issues of depending on cloud servers, the best design for mobile AI is simple. Streamlining allows additional resources to be provided to AI algorithms, which is an important factor in mobile environments where resource limits are common.
With many organizations striving to build AI-powered tools and solutions, those that achieve a significant breakthrough in the mobile app space might possibly get an advantage over the competition.
