Perhaps it is not so surprising that millennials based in the United States would be interested in taking full advantage of artificial intelligence especially in completing daily tasks, but intriguingly, this age group is pretty okay with wireless carriers sharing their mobile data as long as the millennials benefit from it, at least according to a recent study conducted by CSG International.
For those not familiar with CSG, it is a business support systems software provider from Colorado. As part of a more expansive survey conducted across the globe, the company polled over 200 American mobile subscribers with ages 18 to 35 years old. CSG asked millennials which feature would they want to spend more money on in half a decade’s time, and 64 percent of them opted for a mobile service that serves a personal digital assistant that can set meeting schedules, and post updates on social media platforms. CSG further pointed out that millennials based in the US were significantly more likely to believe in increased spending for handsets with AI assistants than those millennials based in other countries.
It is interesting to note that CSC’s survey is pretty consistent with how more and more mobile operators, phone makers, and software providers are exploring how to efficiently integrate AI in their respective products and services. Perhaps the most recent is Samsung, who formally introduced Bixby, its own take on the AI driven digital assistant concept. The South Korean tech giant is hoping to have its Bixby compete against the likes of Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa. To Samsung’s credit, it made a wise decision to debut Bixby on its latest flagship offering, the Galaxy S8, which should result to maximum exposure for the digital assistant. The company’s vision is to have Bixby be supported by a wide range of Samsung branded connected devices.
With global brands such as Samsung, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft fully in on the AI fun, various industry watchers are now saying that AI will be the future of mobile devices, at least in terms of software. Some of them contend that a few years from now, people will no longer be referring to Android or iOS, but instead talk about Siri, Google Assistant, or Bixby.
And millennials will be the ones to push today’s AI into even more innovative territory, and they are even willing to have networks share mobile data in exchange for a more personalized mobile experience. CSG’s study shows that 86 percent of US millennials will not mind having their data collected as long as it is used to provide a feature that helps them complete certain tasks (like booking a hotel room) or get a good entertainment recommendation (a new Netflix show also worth checking out).
