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SANTA CRUZ, United States – Mr Matthew Day was keen to find out if an artificial intelligence (AI) packed Google Pixel 9 smartphone could tell him where to find a great local fishing spot. California assemblywoman Gail Pellerin had it whip up a playful picture of her dog in front of the state Capitol building. Mr Igor Gaspar launched into a discussion with the Pixel regarding causes of inflation. Fascination tinged with concern was a common reaction as people in Santa Cruz dabbled with a Pixel 9 and its capabilities, including the ability to “add” oneself to pictures and having a whip-smart digital assistant at one’s command. AFP visited the coastal California city to ask passers-by to test out the features on the phone, as , in what they say is becoming a transformative time for the devices central to modern life. “I asked it a question, and it gave me a quick answer,” Mr Day said as he checked out the Pixel 9. “That’s a lot better than the phone I have right now, I’ll tell you that much.” Ms Pellerin said after putting a Pixel through its paces: “(There are) definitely some incredible tools that people would have available to them to do creative things and gather information.” Yet, worries also mounted. She added: “But I’m also concerned about nefarious uses of it, and we need to have those guardrails and regulations so it doesn’t cause havoc in any industries or communities or whatever.” Ms Pellerin is backing state legislation aimed at thwarting AI being Along with her concerns was admiration, though, for benefits of AI features such as an “Add Me” tool that lets people take a photo of family or friends, then add themselves in as though they were part of the group from the outset. “I could see myself, as these tools become available, utilising them more and more,” she said of AI on smartphones. “It’s scary. It’s going to only increase the desperation that comes if we had to live without them.” Computer science professor Leilani Gilpin, at University of California, Santa Cruz, questioned the need to put AI in people’s pockets and wondered if confident sounding smartphone replies will mask moments when the software is “hallucinating” – making up inaccurate information. “Different language models hallucinate different information,” Prof Gilpin said. “So, the same thing is going to happen for people using this,” she added, hefting the smartphone. “Whether it’s for trivia or for generating images or other things, there’ll be some made up information and that’s just a way that the models work.” Prof Gilpin liked the idea of engaging with AI conversationally while out walking, but felt spoken exchanges lacked a sense of talking with a real person. “I work on a lot of these technologies, so I feel like it’s a couple of bells and whistles on things I’ve seen before,” Prof Gilpin said. “I don’t think it’s going to be super revolutionary.” Prof Gilpin and others also found the smartphone AI to be verbose, diving deeply into topics when short replies would suffice. Meanwhile, Mr Gaspar and some friends created a group photo using the Pixel “Add Me” feature, with that capability alone prompting one of them to offer to swop phones. “It was a really impressive feature,” 23-year-old Gaspar said. “But, with the information war we have, I think a lot of people could be kind of scared by the futuristic aspect of things – like you can add me to a picture in a way that’s real.” Seeing powerful AI tools on new smartphones “raises eyebrows” for Mr Gaspar, who said having it packed into iPhones could spoil his taste for Apple products unless he feels in complete control of the technology. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable having something that’s so advanced that we aren’t even sure of how it works on our phones,” he said. “I do love Apple products, but if there’s going to be this shift towards artificial intelligence without a choice of the consumer, I would step away from that.” In some ways, companies are already trying to avoid negative fallout from infusing AI into their products. Google appeared to be taking steps to avoid controversy, with its Gemini AI powered digital assistant on the Pixel declining to talk about elections or politics and the image generation tool telling users it would not depict real people. AFP