In 2016, Hanson Robotics unveiled Sophia, the world’s first humanoid robot. Since then, we’ve witnessed significant leaps in the development of intelligent machines, including those that can perform complex tasks and recreate famous sculptures. There’s even Elon Musk’s recently proposed Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot designed to eliminate dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks around the home.

By Takakiyo Fujita, MD of Sony, Middle East Africa

Although the idea of a robot in every household, like most pop culture movies depict, is still a distant dream, advanced versions of this technology are still being incorporated into household gadgets, and they’re only getting smarter.

Our entertainment is driven by intelligent technology

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a part of popular culture for decades and has become commonplace for streaming platforms like Netflix, which uses it to personalise content and make better recommendations, but its applications go far beyond that.

AI also supports household technology, such as TVs, which use voice recognition, natural language processing, and multiple device connectivity. The addition of Google Assistant and Alexa made TVs more intelligent, allowing viewers to search for content, pause movies, and turn them off by speaking into the remote control or using a smart home device.

This technology just got smarter

Adding to the advancement of TVs is new processing technology called Cognitive Intelligence (CI), which goes beyond conventional AI by replicating the way humans perceive the world through sight and sound. While AI can only detect and analyse elements like colour, contrast, and detail individually, CI can cross-analyse every element at once, just like the human brain.

TVs that use CI technology, like Sony’s newly-launched BRAVIA XR range that’s powered by the Cognitive Processor XR, can mimic the human eye by detecting the focal point in a scene. These TVs can also create a lifelike entertainment experience by dividing the screen into numerous detailed zones and cross-analysing an array of elements at once, just like the human brain.

Additionally, Cognitive Processor XR technology can analyse sound position so that the audio precisely matches what’s on the screen. It also upconverts any sound to 3D surround sound to deliver incredible realism with an immersive soundscape. It learns, analyses, and understands unprecedented amounts of data and intelligently optimises every pixel, frame, and scene for the most lifelike picture and sound.

TVs powered by CI understand how the human eye sees and how the human ear hears, combining that information to give us an experience that’s even closer to reality than ever before, on screen.