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ZDNET Highlights
- Lenovo and Motorola launch Qira.
- Qira works seamlessly across all your devices.
- A new AI PIN has been included in Qira.
While Lenovo and Motorola made a splash at CES with their latest hardware launches, including the highly anticipated Motorola Razr Fold, the companies also made an exciting announcement in the area of AI.
Lenovo Cura is an AI assistant that works across the vast ecosystem of Lenovo and Motorola devices, including smartphones, wearables, PCs, tablets, and more. The assistant goes a step ahead of traditional chatbots like ChatGPT by performing actual tasks across devices and apps, including transferring files between devices, both online and offline.
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“Lenovo Cura isn’t just another assistant, it’s a new way to bring intelligence to your device,” said Dan Derry, VP of AI ecosystem at Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group. “Our goal is to make AI feel less like a tool you use and more like an intelligence that works with you constantly and naturally.”
Motorola also unveiled an AI wearable that will include Qira. Although this is a proof of concept, I got a demo, and it looks really promising.
an ambient intelligence system
Cura is described as a personal ambient intelligence system, meaning it is context-aware and available on multiple devices. Qira creates what Lenovo calls a fused knowledge base, which combines user-selected interactions, documents, and memories from across devices to create personalized experiences and develop a “living model of the user’s world.”
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This will help make the experience seamless for users by eliminating context switching and requiring minimal background information to complete tasks. Some suggested uses include Next Move, which provides relevant suggestions tailored to your current task, and Catch Me Up, which provides users with a summary of what happened while they were away.
Lenovo said user privacy and consent are at the core of the Assistant, with a hybrid architecture that prioritizes on-device processing and keeps personal data local. In cases where sending information to the cloud is necessary, Lenovo says it uses secure cloud services with strong security measures.
It will first be rolled out to select Lenovo devices in Q1 2026 and then expanded to supported Motorola smartphones later. On Lenovo devices, the experience will appear as Lenovo Qira, while on Motorola devices, it will appear as Motorola Qira.
project maxwell
While AI PINs have been attempted before and notoriously failed, Motorola’s 312 Labs has created Project Maxwell to take a different approach. Motorola describes it as an “AI Perceptive Companion proof of concept”.
Pin uses Motorola Cura to help with everyday tasks when you don’t want to use your phone. It has a camera, so Qira has the context of what you’re seeing to help you. The pin has a magnetic back, which also has a chain attached for use as a necklace.
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In the demo, Project Maxwell was used to assist with a variety of tasks including getting directions, ordering an Uber, and sending texts. In each of these examples, the user did not need to take out their phone; Rather, he spoke directly to the pin. Then, the pin completed the tasks from beginning to end. Although it may look like any other AI assistant, the key lies in understanding how it completed the task.
Although you don’t need to look at the phone to complete tasks, if you want, you can watch how Qira reasons every step of the way to complete the task perfectly. In the Uber example, it opened the Uber app, entered the requested location, selected a payment method, and submitted the complete request for a vehicle.
The example of sending a text, while much simpler, was similar. Quira opened the app, chose the right contact, entered text in the field, and then sent it. This type of agentic assistance, packaged in a lightweight and convenient form factor, can be a helpful companion for the day.
