Future AI Already Now

First Impression: Moto AI Beta - Sneak Peek and Preview

All manufacturers talk about AI, and so does Motorola when they presented the new version of Moto AI late last fall. Since then, the service has been released in a public beta version, and we have tested the services available to get a sneak peek at the future.

Erik Mörner

Published 28 January 2025 - 09:40

When Motorola presented the new generation of Moto AI in October 2024, it was a mix of futuristic concepts and services more grounded in what can be done today. We saw how the phone in the future will be able to perform tasks for you based on simple commands. By asking the phone to order a coffee, for example, it not only opens the right app but also checks where you are, finds the nearest café, and places the order on your behalf. The same goes for, for example, a taxi or if you want to reply to an incoming message or set an alarm, and you should be able to do everything with natural speech.

In the examples we saw then, an "Iced americano" was ordered, and the phone opened the Starbucks app, found the nearest Starbucks, and placed the order. The only thing you need to do after that is to go to the café and pick up your coffee. The taxi example involved the user asking the phone to book a ride to the Space Needle in Seattle, and the next moment, the Uber app appeared on the phone's display with the trip from your position to the destination ready, but we did not see in detail how, for example, the AI knows if you want the cheap Uber X or more expensive options in the Uber app. However, we see that the AI provides voice feedback and confirms that the trip is booked and tells you which car and its registration number to look out for. Motorola promises that you will get help like a personal assistant while you still have full control.

We were also presented with a number of other use cases then. It was about, for example, “Catch me up”, “Pay attention” and “Remember this”. In Swedish, “Update me” means that AI summarizes notifications from apps, “Observe”, which means that AI records audio, transcribes it to text and summarizes, and “Remember this” where AI saves screenshots, photos, and notes in text form so you can return to the information at a later time.

Since this presentation, Motorola has opened Moto AI's public beta program, which allows you to test the features if you have a new Razr or Edge 50 Ultra. The feedback from users that Motorola now receives will be used to shape the future of Moto AI, and we have tested the features that are currently available as beta.

Just because these are beta versions, teething problems and shortcomings are expected, and so far the beta program is also limited with language support only for English, Spanish, and Portuguese. We still want to see what can be done, so we try mainly with English.

I join the beta program by downloading the Moto AI app from Google Play. It doesn't appear directly as a regular app on the home screen, and I have to search around for a while. After waiting a bit, Moto AI appears as a small floating icon on the edge of the home screen. A click on it brings up a box with available functions and a search box where you can type or press a microphone to instead speak your request or question. I can also choose to tap twice on the back of the phone to wake Moto AI, but there is no voice command.

Summarized App Notifications

One of the more interesting features of Moto AI is that it can summarize app notifications. Here, I immediately notice that it is limited to what the AI calls “personal notifications.” Which notifications are summarized therefore depends on which app they come from. None of my news apps with news flashes are included, nor notifications from Gmail, nor from Google Chat. However, it does understand notifications from Instagram and includes these in the summary.

I notice here that the AI, despite lacking Swedish language support, understands a lot of Swedish in my messages, presents its functions in Swedish, and understands when I give instructions in Swedish. However, written responses come in English.

Since full language support is only available for English, Spanish, and Portuguese, I make sure to receive a series of messages in English. They are summarized relatively well when I receive longer text passages. To challenge the AI, I also make sure to receive a long series of shorter messages in English with references between messages and changed details to see if the AI can handle it. Changed meeting times and different participants in the meeting are more difficult for the AI to keep track of, but it does not make any major mistakes and warns that it might misunderstand and advises me to always double-check with the source.

Transcribe audio recordings and summarize

First, when I test the “Observe” function, I do it with a podcast in Swedish. It becomes apparent that the AI understands much of the discussion even in Swedish but has difficulty keeping topics separate. In a podcast with short segments on different topics, it completely mixes up the parts and relates entirely different topics to each other even though there is no connection. It simply becomes very misleading. Unusable. It works better when the language is English, and when I let Moto AI summarize the launch of the Samsung S25, it goes better.

Remember this

The third main function is for the AI to memorize things. Confusingly, this is saved in what is called a diary. The first time I want to save something, it is an audio recording where someone tells a funny story in Swedish. Moto AI then gets a decent idea of what is being said, despite it being in Swedish, but saves it as “A day in Stockholm” and interprets it as if I have experienced what is being told. When I later want to return to this diary entry, it is difficult to find because Diary does not exist as an app, so I have to ask the AI and then not really know what I am supposed to search for. The same thing happens when I save images, screenshots then, it is obviously difficult for the AI to know what I want to save and why.

There is no information yet on when Moto AI will be released in a full version or when Swedish language support might be available.