- HONOR has revealed its latest mobile operating system – MagicOS 9.0.
- The new OS features several AI-powered features including the ability to detect deepfakes.
- MagicOS 9.0 has been launched in China this week, but we will need to wait to hear about availability in other regions.
This week is proving to be a busy one for HONOR. The company teased its upcoming Magic7 flagship series of phones, and now it has launched MagicOS 9.0 in China.
It is the company’s latest mobile operating system, and like many of HONOR’s software announcements at the moment, AI is a key focus. To that end, MagicOS 9.0 features several AI-powered tools including AI Gallery, AI Meetings, AI Docs, and AI Translate.
“With the new MagicOS 9.0, HONOR is introducing the MagicLM line-up, a family of LLMs (Large Language Models) that aims to create transformative experience with language, visual, audio, and multimodal interactions,” the company noted in a press release shared with Hypertext.
“Compared to the previously released seven billion parameter on-device model, it has achieved an 80% reduction in power consumption, a 77% increase in loading speed, a 500% increase in word output speed, and a 1.8GB and 1.6GB reduction in ROM and RAM usage respectively,” it added.
One other feature that piqued our interest though was AI Deepfake Detection, which HONOR notes is a first for the industry. While we cannot fully validate the claim, it is the first time we can recall a smartphone maker introducing some form of deepfake detection to its mobile software suite.
“In light of the rising risks of fraud associated with deepfake technology, MagicOS 9.0 unveils the industry’s first AI Deepfake Detection feature, significantly enhancing security and safeguarding users against potential scams,” HONOR explains.
While scam detection will indeed prove useful, one of the other potentially useful applications for the technology will be in combating misinformation and fraud.
We have seen in recent months the sharp rise in celebrities and political figures being used for convincing deepfake videos in efforts to either sow dissent or simply make false claims, so having such a feature to discern what’s real from what’s not could certainly be of use.
It will also be interesting to see if other smartphone makers will look to leverage the power of AI to tackle things like misinformation and cybersecurity.
For now, MagicOS 9.0 has been launched in China alone, but we should hear more on when it it expected to rollout in South Africa and on which devices in the coming weeks.
“Today, as we unveil the MagicOS 9.0, which introduces the industry’s first cross-application AI Agent, we showcase HONOR’s steadfast dedication to leveraging AI for operating system enhancement and driving forward innovative intent-based interactions,” enthused George Zhao, CEO of HONOR.
[Image – Provided]
