Google says running AI locally on phones requires tons of RAM

In a nutshell: Google's Gemini AI model landed on select mobile devices earlier this year via Android app, but some were surprised to learn that one of the company's latest flagship smartphones didn't make the list. During Mobile World Congress, it was revealed that Gemini Nano couldn't run on Google's Pixel 8 due to unspecified hardware limitations. Now, we've got a better idea of what was holding the phone back from on-device AI compatibility.

On a recent episode of the Made by Google podcast, VP of devices and services software, Seang Chau, said the Pixel 8 Pro with 12 GB of RAM was the perfect platform to load Gemini Nano onto and see what was possible. The entry-level Pixel 8, however, ships with 4 GB less memory, and it seems Google didn't want to "degrade the experience" by forcing the AI model to run on just 8 GB.

Google has since had a change of heart – well, sort of. In a recent announcement on the Pixel Phone Help site, the tech titan said it will be rolling out Gemini Nano to Pixel 8 users as a developer option in the next software drop. That's good news for devs that know how to enable it, but mostly a nothing burger for the average Pixel 8 user – at least, for now.

Jumping back to Chau's podcast appearance, the Googler explained that the company wants some of its AI-enabled features, like smart reply, to be "RAM resident." This means they "permanently" occupy a chuck of memory, which will allow them to be ready to go at a moment's notice.

It's worth mentioning that Google told Ars Technica that neither the Pixel 8 nor the Pixel 8 Pro are keeping Gemini in memory currently, and that you have to turn on a the developer flag to do so.

Armed with this new information, some will no doubt question whether or not they want Gemini Nano running on their phone at all. An unrestricted install will result in "permanently" losing a chunk of system memory, which could slow down the performance of other apps and services on your smartphone. Is that trade-off going to be worth it?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/102450-google-running-gemini-ai-smartphones-require-gobs-ram.html

Then don't run AI on phones? Seriously, nobody is asking for this and it's very typical of the mobile market: this is a solution in search of both a problem and the necessary hardware to run it, mostly because Google and it's partners must sell more phones even when there's been literally no reason to own a new phone when even a midrange phone from like 10 years ago (Outside of batteries dying...Which they used to be replaceable btw and there's no good reason for them not to be other than buy more phones) is probably identical in performance for you know, phone tasks: taking pictures, checking social media and wasting time on 80s era level of gameplay if not 'games' that basically play themselves for you to just watch something in case you run out of social media posts to view while waiting in line somewhere or taking a poop.

That's all mobile phones need to be for 99.99% of the user base but of course since Google wants to pester us with an AI phone they will demand that their next version of Android will be AI 'Enabled' and in other words mandatory AI on by default and that means of course 'You need more ram' and that in turn means 'Yeah all phones are now 30 to 50% more expensive since they need minimum 16gb ram now...Because of AI of course'

Then sell me a cheaper phone without AI that has less RAM and a longer battery life.