HT Wired Wisdom: How AI dictates your shopping, Airtel’s FWA move and gaming

I am sure you’d have realised how much artificial intelligence (AI) dictates what you shop for. Every time you get into some virtual retail therapy, the app of your choice seems to be talking to you. Telling you what to buy. That’s apart from curations that define video streaming, music streaming, e-book suggestions, what apps to download, the ads you see on social media feeds. Just some examples. It has caught most of us by surprise. When I was writing this story, was often reminded of something that the great artist, Pablo Picasso is believed to have said. “Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” Right now, all computing platforms, with AI as the underlying smarts, are posing quite a few complex questions too. Often wonky, but mostly (and suspiciously) on point.

Read (Premium):?Pick me, pick me: What AI is doing to your shopping carts

And writing this story for your reading pleasure, was fraught was its own share of perils. The algorithms were distinctly at work. The ads plastered across web pages and social media feeds, wanted me to buy a new ‘skin’ for my phone, a dehumidifier for home (I suspect my location data was indicating monsoon season, something online stores picked on), a few discounted apparels (isn’t that par for the course). And this was the surprise, a hotel membership too. My social media feeds will be full of this for a while at least.

You’d have noticed, but perhaps not really realised, the deep layer of AI that dictates every shopping app out there. This is just the start. Those meddling suggestions for accompaniments and accessories to add to the cart before check-out, are still founded on the core principles of upselling, but that data now tells the platform a lot more about you – your interests, intent to shop, how easily you can be swayed, and whether data picked from your old browsing history is still relevant (as in, are you still interested in that Xbox game title or that book), among other things.

Also read (Premium):?Spot the differences: How is AI art getting so much better, so fast?

Don’t we all have that one piece of apparel in our wardrobe, purchased amidst the flurry of suggestions, offers and discounts, but the original tags are still on it?

I met Shibu Nambiar, who is Chief Operating Officer at technology services company Genpact, in London recently. He pointed out that the next big evolution for AI-assisted shopping will come from generative AI (you might like our?Premium story ?on how chatbots learn). Makes absolute sense. This will be conversational, the apps you shop on will talk back to you. ‘You’ve been ordering this for a while, our suggestion is to try something else.’ The sort of conversations you’d normally expect from a friendly neighbourhood shopkeeper.

But times are changing. Apps are attempting to do that. You’ll have a lot more suggestive shopping coming your way. Be careful about how much you end up putting into your shopping cart. It all totals up. AI isn’t going to pay your credit card bills.

Also read:?Collective intelligence has evolved to be AI inclusive: Genpact’s Shibu Nambiar

GENERATIONS

This took me back. A long time ago. A much simpler era. The beginning of the activity we know today, as gaming. Remember the Sony PlayStation Portable? It hung around for many years, and did a good job of what it was supposed to do. That place in time also wasn’t as demanding with specs, processor power, game frame rate, screen refresh rate, resolution, hours of battery life, whether it has a million controls and 200 companion apps to tweak settings with. Simply switch it on, and start gaming. We aren’t living in uncomplicated times anymore. Therefore, the task at hand for the Asus Rog Ally, isn’t easy.

Read:?Asus ROG Ally’s promising future needs pinpoint accuracy with refinement updates

But for the very fact that a portable gaming console for a broader demographic is still being designed, developed and produced (I don’t consider the Nintendo Switch in the same league), is a good thing. Not everyone wants the bulk of a gaming PC. The limited utility of a gaming laptop, beyond gaming. And not everyone can manage with the latest gaming consoles either.

The thing with the Asus Rog Ally is, we are returning the basics here. Back to the start point. A blank slate. There’s a lot that simply works well. It’s incredibly powerful, well built, integrates everything from the brilliant Xbox Game Pass to the EA, Steam, Epic Games and Ubisoft Connect. And it can be morphed into a PC, if you take the pains to pair this with a keyboard too. Speaking of which, loads of accessories, including connecting this to a much bigger display.

But if you are willing to spend Rs 69,990 for this portable console, I’d suggest you wait a bit longer. There is still some need for refinement. Performance and battery life (often at odds in portable computing devices) are yet to find the close to perfect balance here. It may not be everyone’s cup of team to play the latest titles at 720p resolution, or even lower, in some cases. Asus has the sort of?legacy in gaming , which leads me to believe they’ll fix it soon. Experience, once you’re past the fact that Windows 11 feels a force-fit on anything except a conventional PC, is slick. The hours spent with Forza Motorsport 7 testifies to it. Good timing too, ahead of the next Forza Motorsport release? But where will I play it. That’s the million dollar question (in my mind, I know no one else cares).

Another question that comes to mind – would you want a portable gaming console too?

Also read:?Significant shift in attitude towards gaming in India: Asus India’s Arnold Su

KNOW

• Microsoft?Bing chat , the generative AI chatbot you probably want to spend hours chatting with, is getting wider compatibility. That was to be expected, as Microsoft edges closer to the Copilot plans, for Windows 11. Bing chat will now be available in the Edge mobile browser, as standalone apps on Android and iPhone, as well as third-party web browsers including Google Chrome and Apple Safari.
• For those of you who wouldn’t mind a bit of help in getting the taste of some new music, Apple is adding a new radio station on the Apple Music app, called Discovery Station. Apple hasn’t officially announced it, but it’s already there in Apple Music. How to find it??Apple Music > Listen Now tab > scroll down to ‘Stations for You’ > tap on Discovery Station.

CONNECT

Our?regular readers would remember ?I’ve often talked about this. Fixed wireless access connecting to 5G mobile networks, to create Wi-Fi within homes. An alternative to wired fiber broadband, which to be fair has been the go-to technology over the years. Yet, it was inconvenient – pulling a physical wire across walls, both inside your home and outside, never was easy. Even the slightest damage to it anywhere through the chain, and the entire thing would need replacement. On a larger scale, that often limited physical availability of connections for homes. Many, couldn’t get connected. Simply because, the infrastructure for that area, was too far.

That’s changing now. After months of it being teased, Airtel has made the first move. The product (heaven sent, for many) is called the Airtel Xstream AirFiber 5G. The name’s a tongue twister, try it. Here’s what it is.

• A Wi-Fi 6 device which will have a paired SIM. My understanding is, it’ll get a SIM that’s specifically for the Xstream AirFiber 5G FWA, and you’ll not be able to get your mobile 5G SIM to do double duties when need be.
• Airtel is starting off with just one plan. That’s the Rs 799 plan with unlimited data (the fair usage policy is 3333GB per month). This means you’re limited to a speed of up to 100Mbps on Wi-Fi. Look closely, you’ll notice there are attempts to keep parity with the subscription plans of the Xstream fiber broadband.

The question is, why limit the FWA to 100Mbps? It could very well be that Airtel is trying to keep costs down (further discount since it’s a 6-month subscription bundle mandatorily), to get a better lock on interest levels and demand. While also factoring in for variations in 5G network performance in different cities, or even different localities within cities. The rollout still continues, remember. I’ll simply sign off with this. Expect faster speeds to be unlock soon. Your move, Reliance Jio.

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Written and edited by Vishal Mathur . Produced by Md Shad Hasnain