Conversation Starters: 5 Keys To Lenovo's AI Future

Smart Investments

Lenovo is betting big on smart devices' ability to catapult the company into a future IT market dominated by artificial intelligence, and the company is giving a peek at the concept products it says will get it there.

Lenovo CTO Yong Rui, in a blog post published as the company's Tech World conference kicked off in Shanghai, China, this week, said the company is investing heavily in AI, including spending on personne, and an Artificial Intelligence Lab staffed by more than 100 researchers around the world.

Rui writes that in order to enable AI to "change how we live and work and how our societies operate," Lenovo must get algorithms, big data and computing power right. Lenovo this week is showing off a handful of concept products intended to show that the company has done just that.

The Vision

Rui argues AI will stoke a "revolution of intelligence" that allows businesses to work smarter, rather than harder, improve cities and neighborhoods and make everyday interactions better. That revolution starts with smart devices, Rui says, including PCs, tablets, smartphones, smart speakers, smart TVs and virtual reality bringing businesses a wide variety of content and services.

A Little Help

Using facial recognition and language understanding technologies, Lenovo's Context Aware Virtual Assistant, or CAVA, manages calendar events and gives users reminders based on their own habits. The smartphone-based assistant understands the meaning of the things users put into it, which allows it to suggest when to leave for an appointment based on weather or traffic data, for example.

Understanding The Optics

Lenovo's dayStar VR headset allows users to scan, upload and edit 3-D content using services like Cloud Object Recognition, Remote Assistance, Multiplayer Interaction and 3-D Content Manager. The dayStar headset has an independent vision processing unit and uses Lenovo's AR Platform, which can create applications across a range of industries.

Heart Smart

With the SmartVest, Lenovo promises nothing less than improved cardiac health for users. The SmartVest is a piece of "smart clothing" that uses several embedded sensors to monitor cardiac activity in real time and around the clock. Lenovo said the sensors can identify abnormalities like tachycardia or atrial fibrillation and send alerts when it detects unsafe cardiac activity.

Service Station

The Xiaole platform is an AI-based services offering from Lenovo that learns from conversations with users. It then uses that information to formulate customized, 24-hour services, including solving technical problems with devices.

Speak Now

Lenovo may also release a smart speaker called SmartCast+, which Lenovo said can recognize sounds and objects on its way to providing AR experiences. As an example, the company said the device can be used to teach new languages to children.