Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Over 4 decades, mobile phones have become a near universal service that underpin digital connectivity global societies rely upon. This taken-for-granted status of the smartphone occurs, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time of potentially profound social, technical, and ecological transition. To reflect on this conjuncture, this paper focuses on mobile AI as a critical and complex arena in which communication futures–not least after the smartphone–are reimagined, debated, designed, and enacted. First, I look at how mobile technology providers––such as Qualcomm, Samsung, and Apple––have progressively expanded the role and salience of AI in their offerings. Second, I chart the emergence of “AI devices”, including Humane’s “ai pin”, the Rabbit R1, and the design and capital investment quest for a breakthrough apparatus that leverages AI for a next phase of digital communication. Third, I zoom out to put these mobile AI case studies in their conjuncture––the smartphone at the crossroad. This sets the scene, fourthly, for a consideration of mobile AI and inequalities. Fifth and finally, I reflect on mobile AI suggests for the evolution of mobile and digital communication, and the priorities for the research agenda.
Gerard Goggin (Sun,) studied this question.