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At Mobile World Congress last week, the show floor was abuzz with AI. It was the same at CES two months earlier: The biggest theme of the biggest consumer tech show was that AI suddenly seemed to be part of every single product. But the hype can make it hard to know what we should be excited about, what we should fear and what we should dismiss as a fad.

“Omnipresent … but also overwhelming.” That’s how CCS Insight Chief Analyst Ben Wood described the MWC moment. “For many attendees, I felt it was rapidly reaching levels that risked causing AI fatigue.”

But there was a positive side as well. Said Wood: “The most impressive demos were from companies showing the benefits AI could offer rather than just describing a service or a product as being AI-ready.”

At last year’s MWC, the popular generative AI tool ChatGPT was only around 3 months old, and on-device AI was mostly a twinkle in the eye of the tech companies present. This year, on-device was a reality, and attendees — like me — could experience it on the show floor.

I got to experience several demos featuring AI on devices, and the best of them brought artificial intelligence to life in ways I’d never seen before. In many cases, I could see that products we’re already familiar with — from smartphones to cars — are getting a new lease on life thanks to AI, with some offerings using the technology in unique ways to set themselves apart from rivals. In other cases, new types of products, like AI-focused wearables and robots, are emerging that have the potential to displace what we know and love.

Above all, it was clear that on-device AI isn’t a technology for tomorrow’s world. It’s available right here, right now. And it could impact your decision as to what piece of technology you buy next.

The age of AI phones has arrived

One of my biggest takeaways from MWC was that while all tech companies now have a raft of AI tools at their disposal, most are choosing to deploy them in different ways.

Take smartphones. Samsung has developed Gauss, its own large language model (the tech that underlies AI chatbots), to focus on translation on the Galaxy S24, whereas Honor uses AI to include eye tracking on its newly unveiled Magic 6 Pro — which I got to try out at its booth. Oppo and Xiaomi, meanwhile, both have on-device generative AI that they’re applying to phone cameras and photo editing tools.

It goes to show that we’re entering a new period of experimentation as tech companies figure out what AI can do, and crucially how it can improve our experience of using their products.

Samsung’s Y.J. Kim, an executive vice president at the company and head of its language AI team, told reporters at an MWC roundtable that Samsung thought deeply about what sort of AI tools it wanted to deliver to users that would elevate the Galaxy S24 above the basic smartphone experience we’ve come to expect. “We have to make sure that customers will see some tangible benefits from their day-to-day use of the product or technologies that we develop,” he said.

Conversely, there’s also some crossover in AI tools between devices because of the partners these phone-makers share. As the maker of Android, the operating system used by almost all non-Apple phones, Google is experimenting heavily with AI features. These will be available across phones made by Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Honor and a host of others.

Google used its presence at MWC this year to talk about some of its recently introduced AI features, like Circle to Search, a visual search tool that lets you draw a circle around something you see on screen to search for it.

The other, less visible partner that phone-makers have in common is chipmaker Qualcomm, whose chips were in an entire spectrum of devices at MWC this year. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, announced late in 2023, can be found in many of the phones that are now running on-device generative AI.

It’s been only a year since Qualcomm first showed a basic demo of what generative AI on a phone might look like. Now phones packing this technology are on sale, said Ziad Asghar, who leads the company’s AI product roadmap.

“From our perspective, we are the enablers,” said Asghar. “Each and every one of our partners can choose to commercialize with unique experiences that they think are more important for their end consumer.”

At MWC, the company launched its AI Hub, which gives developers access to 75 plug-and-play generative AI models that they can pick and choose from to apply to their products. That number will grow, and it means any company making devices with Qualcomm chips will be able to add all sorts of AI features.

As well as deciding which AI features to develop, one of the next big challenges phone-makers will have to tackle is how to get AI onto their cheaper devices. For now AI is primarily reserved for the top-end phones — the Galaxy S24s of the world — but over time this will change. There will be a trickle-down effect where this tech ends up on a wider range of a company’s devices.

There will naturally be a difference in quality and speed between what the most expensive and the cheapest devices can do, said Asghar, as is currently the case with a phone’s camera tech.

AI is changing how we interact with our devices

AI enhancements to our phones are all well and good, but already we’re seeing artificial intelligence being used in ways that have the power to totally change how we interact with our devices — as well as potentially changing what devices we choose to own.

In addition to enabling companies to bring AI to their existing device lines, Qualcomm’s tech is powering concept phones like the T Phone, created by Deutsche Telekom and Brain.AI. Together, these two have tapped Qualcomm’s chipset to totally reimagine your phone’s interface, creating an appless experience that responds to you based on your needs and the task you’re trying to accomplish and generates, on the fly, whatever you see on screen as you go.

In the demo I saw at MWC, AI showed it has the potential to put an end to the days of constant app-swapping as you’re trying to make a plan or complete a task. “It really changes the way we interface with devices and becomes a lot more natural,” said Asghar.

But, he said, that’s only the beginning. He’d like to see the same concept applied to mixed reality glasses. He sees the big benefit of the AI in allowing new inputs through gesture, voice and vision that don’t necessarily rely on us tapping on a screen. “Technology is much more interesting when it’s not really in your face, but it’s solving the problems for you in an almost invisible manner,” he said.

His words reminded me of a moment in the MWC keynote presentation when Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis asked an important question. “In five-plus years time, is the phone even really going to be the perfect form factor?” said Hassabis. “There’s all sorts of amazing things to be invented.”

As we saw at CES with the Rabbit R1 and at MWC with the Humane AI Pin, these things are starting to become a reality. In my demo with the AI Pin — a wearable device with no screen that you interact with through voice and touch — it was clear to me that AI is creating space for experimentation. It’s allowing us to ask what may succeed the phone as the dominant piece of technology in our lives.

It’s also opening up new possibilities for tech that’s been around awhile but for whatever reason hasn’t quite struck a chord with consumers and found success outside of niche use cases.

Many of us have now played around with generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, and we’re increasingly growing familiar with the idea of AI assistants. One company, Integrit from South Korea, brought a robot to the show that demonstrated how we may interact with these services in public settings, such as hotels or stores. Its AI and robotics platform, Stella AI, features a large, pebble-shaped display on a robotic arm that can swivel to address you directly.

Where this differs from previous robots I’ve encountered in customer service settings, such as the iconic Pepper, is that Stella is integrated with the latest AI models, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s Llama. This means it’s capable of having sophisticated conversations with people in many different languages.

Rather than featuring a humanoid robot face like Pepper does, Stella uses generative AI to present a photorealistic human on its display. It’s entirely possible that people will feel more comfortable interacting with a human, even one that isn’t real, than a humanoid robot, but it feels very early to know this for sure.

What is clear is that this is just the beginning. This is the first generation of devices to really tap into the power of generative and interactive AI, and the floodgates are now well and truly open.

“I think we’ll look back at MWC 2024 as being a foundational year for AI on connected devices,” said Wood, the CCS Insight analyst. “All the pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place to enable developers to start innovating around AI to deliver new experiences which will make our interactions with smartphones and PCs more intuitive.”

If this is the beginning, I’m intrigued to check back a year from now to see how AI continues to change our devices. Hype aside, there’s a lot already happening to be excited about.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to help create some stories. For more, see this post.

Google is adjusting its search engine to filter out spam-filled websites meant to game the system and land at the top of search results. The aim is to elevate original content over web pages that seem to be designed for search engines rather than people.

Along with updating its search algorithm to elevate better-quality sites, Google is changing its spam policies to keep sites “repurposed as spam repositories” out of its search results. It wants to filter out a new wave of zombie sites — once defunct websites that have been resurrected and are now limping along with generic, AI-generated content.

In a Tuesday blog post, Google said these new tweaks will reduce the amount of low-quality, unoriginal content in its search results by 40%.

On Google’s radar are bad actors who use automated systems, including AI generators, to create content that appears to answer specific search queries but fails to provide meaningful information, frustrating search users, according to Google.

The tech giant said it’s also going after reputable websites that host low-quality content from third parties. This kind of abuse aims to leverage the site’s good name to get the third-party content to rank higher in search results. In these instances, readers may be duped into reading a low-quality article from what seems to be a trusted source of information. Google is giving a warning to websites now, and said it’ll begin enforcing ranking for reputable sites on May 5.

Google has long been waging a war against people who try to trick its system and profit off low-quality, ad-filled sites. These sites use Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, techniques to artificially inflate the value of their webpages and rank higher in Google search results. The goal for these actors isn’t necessarily to answer the questions people are asking, but instead rake in clicks for monetization.

It’s led to a degradation in search, with some people lamenting the breakdown of Google results. A recent study found that Google Search results are now more likely to feature lower-quality text with aggressive SEO, monetization and affiliate marketing. Researchers warned that search results will only get worse as AI-generated spam proliferates. To work around the spam, people have, for example, been tweaking their queries with the word “reddit” after a question to help filter in more relevant human-written results.

Google, which makes most of its revenue from ads placed against search results, needs to find a way to improve its process, especially as people begin looking more toward AI engines like ChatGPT to answer questions directly, instead of having to scroll through a feed of blue links.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Even though the Pixel Watch 2 was a significant upgrade over the original, there’s plenty of room for improvement in the Pixel Watch 3.

Among the biggest changes I hope to see this year is longer battery life. Google isn’t alone; achieving multiday battery life is a challenge for many smartwatch manufacturers, including Apple and Samsung. Yet as health tracking continues to become a bigger part of the appeal behind smartwatches, battery life that reliably lasts for more than a day or two is key. It would turn the Pixel Watch into a more capable sleep tracker, which is crucial for measuring wellness.

But battery life is just one way I hope to see the Pixel Watch improve with Google’s next model. More health readings that don’t require a Fitbit Premium subscription, new wellness metrics and additional size options are also on my list.

Google typically releases a new Pixel Watch and Pixel phones in October, so we’re expecting it to maintain that release schedule in 2024.

Read more: Smart Rings Are Picking Up Where Fitness Trackers Left Off

Longer battery life

It seems like battery life will always be the Achilles heel of smartwatches. Like its main Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch competitors, the Pixel Watch 2 usually lasts for about a day on a single charge. But Google did make some improvements between the first- and second-gen Pixel watches by enabling the newer model to last for 24 hours with the always-on display activated. With that in mind, I hope to see more enhancements with the next version.

There’s another reason to be optimistic about the Pixel Watch 3’s battery life. Google recently made changes to the way its Wear OS operating system switches between the watch’s main processor and secondary low-power co-processor, which should boost power efficiency and extend battery life. Light tasks such as surfacing notifications from your phone should require less power. That’s good news for all Wear OS watches, not just Google’s next Pixel Watch, and we saw these improvements at work in the new OnePlus Watch 2.

This improved power efficiency combined with any updates Google may make to the Pixel Watch 3’s battery could result in a noticeable boost in longevity. And that’s important considering fitness tracking tools from Fitbit (which Google owns) play a big role in helping the Pixel Watch stand out from other Wear OS smartwatches. Sleep is a major part of the wellness equation, and it’s difficult to track slumber consistently if you have to charge your watch every night.

Another size option

Like its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 2 is available in one 41-millimeter size. That’s fine for someone like me, since I have a small wrist, but I imagine others may find the Pixel Watch 2’s screen too small. My former colleague Stephen Shankland said metrics can be hard to see on the Pixel Watch 2 when mountain biking, for example.

Other smartwatches are available in two sizes to accommodate different wrists. The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, for example, comes in 40mm and 44mm size options, while Apple sells the Series 9 in 41mm and 45mm sizes. But Google isn’t the only one sticking with a single size. The OnePlus Watch 2 and TicWatch Pro 5 also only offer one option, although their respective watches skew on the larger side.

Google may in fact take a page from Samsung and Apple’s book with the next Pixel Watch. According to a report from 9to5Google, the Pixel Watch 3 will come in a new 45mm size option alongside the current 41mm size.

New big-picture health metrics

Fitbit launched its Daily Readiness Score in 2021, which rates how rested you are based on factors like activity, sleep and heart rate variability. But in 2024, I’d like to see Google take that a step further to more clearly distinguish itself from rivals like Oura and Garmin.

The existing version of the Daily Readiness Score can already provide bits of advice that are tailored to your recent sleep and activity. For example, if your readiness is “good,” the app might recommend that you exercise moderately without overdoing it.

I think Fitbit could do more in this area with a broader type of rating that pulls in other data points like stress. Fitbit already has a separate Stress Management Score that shows how your body is handling stress, including how activity and sleep impact your stress levels. But it would be interesting to see a blanket metric that ties factors like readiness and stress levels together to paint a more comprehensive picture of your current state.

It’s unclear exactly what’s next for the Fitbit app, but Google is planning some big changes for this year. Fitbit Labs, a program that will use AI to further connect the dots between health data points, will arrive for Fitbit Premium members later in 2024. With Fitbit Labs, you’ll be able to ask questions like why a run felt more difficult today compared to yesterday, as the company mentioned in its Made by Google keynote last year when introducing the program.

But in a more recent conversation with CNET, Google’s Ajay Surie also said the tech could be used to help Fitbit users establish fitness goals.

“We also see a huge potential for AI to help us drive the right recommendations for the goals you want to set,” he said. “Because one of the biggest problems that we see in health, and I have this problem too, is getting users to stay focused and sticking with what they’re trying to achieve.”

More without Fitbit Premium

With the free Fitbit app, you can still track activity, sleep and heart rate and view some trends related to your health metrics. But many of the holistic data points that provide more context require a Fitbit Premium subscription, which costs $10 per month. The Daily Readiness Score mentioned above is only available with a subscription, for example, as is Fitbit Labs and Fitbit’s monthly personalized sleep analysis tool. While you can see your sleep and stress scores without Premium, you need a subscription to get the full breakdown behind those ratings.

Charging a subscription for health and fitness coaching services isn’t uncommon. Oura similarly charges $6 a month, and the Whoop band requires a hefty $239 annual membership. But I’d like to see Google provide more under the free tier, even if it’s just a watered-down version of the Daily Readiness Score.

Doing so would make the Pixel Watch a more useful fitness tracker out of the box, which is important now that Google is facing new competition from OnePlus and Samsung. Both companies make Wear OS watches but don’t require a subscription for any of their health tracking features. Samsung is also launching new wellness metrics like My Vitality Score and Booster Cards in the Samsung Health app later this year.

A smarter assistant

Google already brought its Gemini AI model to smartphones, and I hope smartwatches are next. The current version of the Google Assistant is already plenty responsive and comes in handy for tasks like setting timers, checking the weather and quickly starting a workout. But there are plenty of ways I could see a more advanced assistant being useful on a smartwatch.

What if a more powerful version of the Google Assistant could summarize incoming notifications or emails for you, rather than just surfacing them on your wrist? With a screen as small as the Pixel Watch’s, having an assistant that can cut down on the number of times you have to tap, swipe and scroll is important. And a smarter version of the Google Assistant would likely do just that.

But after Gemini’s image creation tool came under fire for creating images of people that were historically inaccurate, it wouldn’t be surprising for Google to slow down its expansion to new devices.

Longer software support

Google provides three years of software updates for the Pixel Watch. While that’s not terrible, the company offers much longer support for its Pixel phones. The Pixel 8 family will get new versions of Android for seven years, which makes the Pixel Watch’s three-year timeline seem short by comparison.

Smartphones are a much more critical part of everyday life compared to smartwatches, so it makes sense that Google would support Pixel phones for a longer period of time. Still, I’d at least like to see Google match Samsung, which supports its Galaxy Watch 6 lineup with five years of software updates.

Only Google knows what’s next for the Pixel Watch and its other products. But a long-lasting Pixel Watch with more advanced health tracking and a smarter virtual assistant would make Google’s next watch the one to beat.

Get a Closer Look at Google’s Pixel Watch 2

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If you’re looking to invest in high-quality audio, Bose devices are worth consideration. Bose makes some of the best audio devices you can buy, often earning spots on our roundup of the best Bluetooth speakers on the market. While top sound quality carries a hefty price tag, there are deals that can make it more affordable to upgrade your audio. Right now, Amazon has slashed prices on a variety of Bose speakers, with up to 30% off portable Bluetooth speakers, soundbars, subwoofers and more — with prices starting at just $99.

If you’re looking for flexibility on the go without spending a ton of cash, now’s a great time to invest in a portable Bluetooth speaker. The Bose SoundLink Micro is a top-notch micro speaker that’s compact and offers a waterproof design and solid sound quality, though one drawback is that it tops out at 6 hours of playback per charge. Even so, it’s a good choice for portability, and right now it’s marked down to just $99.

For a more substantial sound, you’ll want to consider the second-gen SoundLink Revolve with 360-degree omnidirectional sound and up to 13 hours of playback per charge. It’s going for $159 right now, which is $60 in savings. It also has a built-in mic for hands-free control of your music. And the SoundLink Revolve Plus is down to $229 right now, saving you $100 on its list price. This speaker has a handle for easy portability and is dust- and water-resistant, so you can bring it with you to the pool this summer.

If you’re thinking about upgrading your entertainment space, you can save $100 on the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar with Dolby Atmos. Be sure to check out the entire sale selection for other accessories, including subwoofers and amplifiers.

And if you’re looking to listen to your music privately, we’ve gathered plenty of earbuds and headphones deals, too.

While modern built-in TV speakers are generally OK, investing in a good soundbarcan make a huge difference in sound quality, especially if you don’t have a standalone set of speakers. Not only can a soundbar offer you louder and higher-quality audio, but you can also get things like surround sound and the ability to listen to music when the TV is off. And right now, on Amazon you can snag the Fire TV soundbar for just $100 rather than the usual $120 it goes for. That’s a solid 17% discount, so you better snap it up quickly before the deal expires.

The Fire TV Soundbar is compact at just 24 inches wide, and as you’d expect, it’s designed to work best with Fire TV streaming devices and smart TVs, though you can use it with other smart TVs and media players as well. Connectivity includes Bluetooth, HDMI eARC and digital optical. There’s support for DTS Virtual:X built in — and all of that for just $100 if you act now.

Like all the best soundbars, this one doesn’t take up too much space below your TV and is nice and simple. It only comes in one understated color, but it can be wall-mounted if that’s something you want to do to match your room’s aesthetic. That said, if this model doesn’t quite do it for you, be sure to check out some of these other soundbar deals instead.

We’re all much busier than we’d like to admit, which makes it hard to find time to work on personal growth. The Headway app is one way to do just that. thanks to its easy-to-digest, bite-size learnings that can be enjoyed anytime and wherever you want. And right now you can grab yourself a lifetime subscription to the Headway Premium plan for just $48 (instead of the usual $300) when you enter the discount code ENJOY20. This offer isn’t likely to stick around, so be sure to snap it up soon if you’re interested, and don’t forget to use that discount code.

Headway serves up 15-minute summaries of nonfiction books, with recommendations based on your needs and goals. It’s designed to help people with packed schedules pick up noteworthy lessons from top-selling titles. A one-year subscription to Headway runs $90, which means this deal saves you a bundle on the first year alone. And if you opt for the lifetime subscription to the app from StackSocial, you’ll never have to worry about recurring fees.

Headway offers a wide variety of the best nonfiction books, which have been boiled down into summaries with key insights and tips. You can dive into multiple topics, including productivity, self-growth and happiness, and you can customize the app based on your recommendations. There are also audio summaries for folks who want to learn on the go or prefer to digest information in audio form. If you want to share the app with a partner or friends, there’s a plan for two users available for $88, or you can get a family plan with four users for $120.

If you do go for a Headway subscription, pair it with one of these headphone and earbuds deals so you can use the app even when you’re out and about.

Read more: Best Language Learning Apps for 2024

We’re pretty confident in saying that the Apple TV 4K is one of the best streaming devices we’ve tested, and it offers many features that you can’t get from competing products. But as great as it is, there is one area where it absolutely lets itself down — the remote control that comes with it. Sure, the latest model is better than the one that came before it, but it’s still too small and easily lost, plus it relies on swipe gestures that not everyone gets on with. Now, you can replace it with a much better product and save some money at the same time.

That better option is the Function101 Apple TV remote, a product that would normally sell for $30 but is yours today for just $24 as part of StackSocial’s latest discount. That’s a reasonable saving, and it’s one that you can pick up today by entering the discount code ENJOY20.

The remote is much more chunky than Apple’s, which means it’s easier to find and less likely to slide between the cushions on your couch. It also has all the buttons you’re going to want, including a menu button, navigation arrows and a whole slate of buttons for media playback control.

The Function101 remote works with all Apple TV and Apple TV 4K boxes and will also work with most modern TV sets. The only thing worth being aware of is the lack of a Siri button, but if we’re being honest, that isn’t all that big of a deal. Sorry, Siri.

If the bad remote has been the one thing holding you back from investing in an Apple TV, be sure to check out our collection of the best Apple TV deals before you rush out and get one.

MacBooks are among the best laptops on the market, consistently impressing us year over year. Apple announced on Monday that it’s adding the M3 processor to its popular MacBook Air lineup. With the addition of the M3 chip, as well as support for Wi-Fi 6E and dual monitors, the latest MacBook Air models offer some solid reasons to upgrade right now.

These new MacBook Air models are available in two sizes: 13 and 15 inches. If you prefer a larger screen for your workstation, the 15-inch version will serve you well, without being too cumbersome when you’re traveling. However, if you want something a little smaller, the 13-inch may be a better fit. Each laptop provides up to 18 hours of battery life per charge. It’s worth noting, however, that you will need to have your lid closed to support two displays with the M3 models, so be sure you consider that as you shop.

Preorders for the new MacBook Air are open now with deliveries beginning March 8. As of right now, only Apple, Amazon, Best Buy and B&H are offering preorders on one of these sleek, upgraded devices, but we’ll keep you updated if that changes.

If you don’t necessarily need the power that comes with the new upgrade, considering other models may be a good idea. With preorders for the M3 models underway, now’s the time for bargain hunters to spend even less by taking advantage of discounts that may be available on MacBook Air M2 devices. However, if you want the latest version, you can preorder the M3 models right now at the links below.

Preorder the M3 MacBook Air

Samsung is one of the biggest tech brands out there, and for good reason. Samsung makes everything from smartphones and tablets to televisions and washing machines. If you’ve been looking to upgrade your Samsung tech gear or if you’ve been wanting to switch ecosystems, you can save big during Samsung’s spring sale. During this event, you can save hundreds off phones, smartwatches, earbuds, tablets and more.

To help you make the most of Samsung’s spring savings, we’ve rounded up some of the best deals you’ll find at this sale below. Just note these deals won’t last forever, so you’ll want to get your order in soon to secure your savings.

Looking for more discounts? CNET has the best deals from Samsung and many others, along with promo code offers — all updated and verified daily.

Welcome to CNET Coupons, the first stop before you shop, featuring a multitude of deals and discounts from top online retailers. Simply head over to our coupon page and type in your favorite store or brands to find all the deals available for the week.