Honor's AI Agent: Automating Restaurant Bookings
We all know the pain of booking a restaurant. It's a task ripe for automation, and tech companies are jumping in with AI solutions. Honor is the latest to throw its hat in the ring with the Honor UI Agent, a "GUI-based mobile AI agent" that promises to handle tasks by understanding what's on your screen. Its demo? You guessed it: booking a restaurant through OpenTable.
WIRED got a sneak peek at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, where Honor unveiled its ambitious $10 billion Honor Alpha Plan. While the plan is full of corporate buzzwords, it signals Honor's focus on AI for its devices.
How it Works
The demo involved an Honor spokesperson asking the UI Agent to book a table for four, specifying a time and "local food." The AI, understanding the context (Barcelona!), searched for Spanish cuisine. The process is a bit different from Google's Duplex; you actually watch the agent navigate the OpenTable app. While it might not feel instantly "smart," Honor says the UI Agent won't always need to show its work in the future.
There were some hiccups. The agent chose a restaurant but couldn't complete the booking because it required a credit card. The user had to step in. However, the AI could handle flexible requests, like finding a "highly rated" restaurant by looking at reviews.
The Buzz Around Agentic AI
This "agentic AI" is the tech world's new darling. Others are exploring similar concepts, like AI assistants that browse the web. Honor's approach resembles Rabbit's Teach Mode, where you train the assistant to complete tasks. The AI memorizes the process, allowing you to issue commands and have them executed. Notably, it doesn't rely on APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).
Honor's Unique Approach
Honor claims its AI isn't just following steps. It uses "multimodal screen context recognition" to perform tasks autonomously. It understands the user interface's semantic elements, allowing it to navigate complex processes. Honor highlights this as a cost-effective advantage over competitors like Apple, Samsung, and Google, which rely on external APIs.
Powered by Gemini 2
While using in-house models, Honor's UI Agent leverages Google's Gemini 2 large language model for intent recognition and semantic understanding. The company has also partnered with Qualcomm to keep data on-device and build a personal knowledge base. This allows the AI to learn your preferences over time, suggesting things it knows you'll like.
Other News from Honor
Honor also announced seven years of software updates for its flagship Magic 7 Pro and future devices, matching Google and Samsung's policies. New gadgets were unveiled too, including earbuds, a smartwatch, a tablet, and a laptop, though these won't be available in the US.
Source: Wired