Technologies

6G Phones Won’t Just Be Fast. They’ll Plug You Into an ‘Always-Sensing Network’

We’re edging closer to yet another technology transformation. «6G will provide context» to help AI agents get things done, says Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

You’ve seen the progression on your phone screen over the years: 3G technology was followed by 4G, and now, probably more often than not, your phone is connecting over 5G. On the ever-closer horizon is, you guessed it, 6G.

Unlike with the Gs that preceded it, 6G has been flying under the radar. It’s less a source of consumer hype and more a point of discussion around the telecoms industry and the networks it relies upon.

But that isn’t quite the full story.

During his keynote address at Web Summit on Tuesday, Cristiano Amon, CEO of chipmaker Qualcomm, hinted that 6G networks, which are scheduled to launch in the US in the early 2030s, might have something exciting to offer us after all.

«6G is designed for AI,» he said at the event in Lisbon, Portugal. It will boost the speed of connectivity and sense what’s around us, providing context to the AI agents that are coming to do things on our behalf.

Following this tantalizingly brief comment, I was keen to find out more about what 6G cellular technology might do for the average smartphone user, so I asked Amon to elaborate on what we can expect from this next-gen network technology.

Every generation of network tech has been the gateway to a new experience, Amon said. 2G was about making sure everyone in the world can have a mobile phone, 3G was for connecting the phone to the internet, 4G turned our mobile device into computers. 5G has allowed us to have critical connectivity and unlimited data.

What then, can 6G offer us above and beyond what we already have?

The obvious answer: even faster speeds and even lower latency. But that takes on particular importance given the coming shift in how we’ll interact with our AI-enabled devices, Amon said.

One of the big benefits of the more advanced large language models we’re now using — the foundational technology that underlies AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot — is that they can understand our natural speech, making voice the easiest and most obvious way for us to chat with our AI agents.

«Voice is going to become important again,» Amon told me. «We’re going to use voice to connect to agents and to all the different devices, so it’s going to even further improve the response time, and it’s going to provide you faster connectivity.»

6G will drive an ‘always-sensing network’

Qualcomm has been an early proponent of the potential of AI agents, which can independently carry out tasks on your behalf. Its chips are already beginning to power agentic experiences across phones, wearables, computers and cars.

If we’re relying on our voices to interact accurately and confidently with agents, which might be making payments or emailing a client on our behalf, absolutely seamless connectivity will be critical to ensure nothing gets lost in translation. This is where 6G will come into its own, according to Amon.

«The devices we interact with are going to understand what we say, what we hear, what we see,» he said. «6G will provide context.» We’ll be surrounded by an «always-sensing network» that will allow our agents to predict what we’ll do and need next based on what’s going on around us, he added.

On stage, Amon gave the example of applying AI to a radio — 6G, like its predecessors, is a radio communication technology — so that it can detect disturbances in the radio frequency environment in a room. It could, for instance, detect changes to a baby’s breathing while it’s in the crib without requiring a wearable monitor. Another, perhaps less appealing example, is mass facial recognition, which would allow for the simultaneous identification of everyone in a room.

«I know it sounds a little bit scary,» said Amon. But the 6G network understanding our context will be key to enabling AI agents to operate, he added.

With at least five years until 6G is due to launch in the US and with AI continuing to develop at a rapid pace, it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen when the two technologies finally collide. But one thing is for sure: 6G will power new experiences — some of which might not have been invented yet.

Disclosure: Katie Collins traveled to Lisbon as a guest of Web Summit to serve as a panel moderator. Her reporting from the event was independent of that role.

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.