Artificial intelligence has slowly woven its way into smartphones, with many manufacturers touting AI capabilities as a key selling point. From voice assistants to photo enhancements and even app suggestions, AI promises to make our devices smarter and more intuitive. Despite these claims, I still find myself unimpressed with the AI features on my phone. While AI has the potential to revolutionize how we interact with our devices, current implementations often fall short of expectations.

Smartphone AI has, for the most part, remained limited to basic, functional tasks. We are now used to having voice assistants like Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa that help us perform everyday tasks—setting reminders, checking the weather, sending texts, or finding information. However, these tasks, while convenient, are hardly groundbreaking. More often than not, the responses are rigid, sometimes slow, and frequently miss the mark in understanding complex or nuanced requests. While these assistants do provide a basic level of utility, they don’t feel as natural or seamless as one might expect from true AI.

Another area where phone AI feels underwhelming is in the realm of camera technology. Smartphone manufacturers often advertise AI features that supposedly enhance photos, recognize scenes, or even adjust settings automatically for the best results. In practice, however, the difference between a photo taken with AI enhancements and one taken without is often barely noticeable. Despite the claims of improved sharpness, color accuracy, and low-light performance, the final results frequently don’t impress, and the AI adjustments can sometimes feel overdone. Portrait mode, scene recognition, and similar features may work in some cases, but they often leave much to be desired in terms of consistency and overall quality.

Finally, AI-driven suggestions such as app recommendations, news updates, or even music playlists can feel overly generic. While the idea is for the device to learn from my habits and preferences over time, I often find the recommendations to be irrelevant or repetitive. If AI truly understood my patterns, it would be able to offer more personalized content that actually aligns with my needs at that moment in time. Instead, I often receive generic suggestions that don’t feel tailored or meaningful. In this sense, phone AI still feels more like a gimmick rather than a true enhancement to my experience.

What Needs to Improve for AI on Phones to Be Truly Impressive

For me to be convinced that phone AI has truly evolved, several significant improvements need to be made. First, AI needs to understand context in a deeper and more meaningful way. Right now, AI on smartphones is largely transactional. It performs tasks based on explicit instructions, but it doesn’t anticipate needs or understand context beyond the obvious. A truly advanced AI should be able to read the room, or rather, understand the broader situation in which the user finds themselves.

For example, imagine being able to tell your voice assistant that you’re heading to work, and the AI automatically adjusts your phone settings based on that information—setting up your calendar, launching the right music, or giving you real-time traffic updates without needing to ask. Right now, this type of proactive, context-aware behavior is still a rare occurrence, but it’s something that could significantly change how we interact with our smartphones. Instead of waiting for the user to ask for everything, AI should anticipate needs and act accordingly.

Additionally, predictive AI on phones could use a much more refined understanding of user behavior. Current predictive features like app suggestions or predictive text feel rather simplistic and don’t always hit the mark. AI should be able to predict actions with more precision. For instance, instead of offering me a list of generic apps based on usage frequency, the phone should understand what I am likely to need at that exact moment. If I’m about to attend a meeting, the AI could suggest a note-taking app, calendar reminders, or even provide relevant documents that might be helpful. By offering personalized, context-sensitive predictions, the AI could make smartphones feel much more intuitive and responsive to my needs.

Another key area for improvement is the integration of AI across all aspects of the phone. Right now, AI features are often siloed into different apps or functions. For example, voice assistants don’t seamlessly communicate with camera features, which don’t interact with app recommendations. An integrated AI experience that spans all parts of the phone—one that understands when to switch between tasks, remembers ongoing projects, and adapts to the user’s evolving needs—would make for a truly compelling phone experience. Right now, each AI feature feels like a separate entity that doesn’t always work in harmony with the rest of the phone’s functions.

Lastly, AI needs to become more intuitive in its understanding of human emotions and subtleties. Voice assistants, for instance, often fail to interpret the tone or urgency behind a request. If I’m rushing to a meeting and say, “Set an alarm for tomorrow,” the AI should be able to recognize that this request is time-sensitive and adjust the alarm settings to reflect that urgency. Similarly, if I’m in a conversation and ask for something related to emotions—like checking the weather for a trip—AI should be able to interpret the underlying emotional context, adjusting its responses to match.

Conclusion

While AI on smartphones has made significant strides, it still has a long way to go before it truly lives up to the hype. The current implementations are useful but not particularly groundbreaking, often offering basic functionalities without a deep understanding of user needs or context. If AI on smartphones is to become genuinely transformative, it needs to be more proactive, context-aware, and emotionally intelligent. When these improvements are made, I believe AI on phones will finally deliver the seamless, intuitive experience that has been promised for so long. Until then, I remain unconvinced by the current state of AI in smartphones.