HONOR's New AI Agent Can Read Screens And Manage Tasks Seamlessly

Tech companies have been investing decades promoting AI assistants that would take care of the everyday details of our digital lives, but HONOR's new AI agent might actually do it.

Debuted at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress 2025, HONOR's UI Agent is more than a chatbot based on AI. It can "see" your screen and perceive what is appearing on it and then act accordingly—reserving restaurants, scheduling, and executing complex multi-step actions in other apps without access through direct APIs.

Image Courtesy: Honor

For example, there will be no more menu-swiping and app-flipping—your AI helper will take care of everything. But is it worth it? And is HONOR truly pioneering or merely playing catch-up in a sector speeding headlong into total AI assimilation?

HONOR isn't launching a single AI functionality—it's going all in on phones and walking towards an "AI device ecosystem."

The star of this development is the HONOR Alpha Plan, a three-phase initiative to make the brand a global leader in AI devices. Phase one? Launching an "intelligent phone" that redraws the landscape of human-machine interaction.

One of the standout features of this vision is HONOR's new AI-driven UI Agent, which can read and comprehend graphical user interfaces (GUIs)—basically, it can be human-like with your phone. The company says it can perform sophisticated, multi-step tasks without requiring deep app integrations such as Apple's Siri or Google Assistant.

To demonstrate its capability, HONOR demonstrated the AI booking of a table at a restaurant on OpenTable based on user location, interests, and calendar. In theory, this is what the future of AI assistants all boils down to—a device that doesn't simply respond to voice but understands and executes entire actions on different apps.

But then things get fascinating: HONOR is doing this without classical APIs.

Why This AI Agent Stands Out (And Why It Could Be Cheaper to Run)

Most AI helpers—like Google Assistant or Siri on Apple—communicate with apps through API interfaces. That is, companies have to build and maintain separate bridges between their software and AI helpers—why voice helpers struggle with tricky, multiple-app requests.

HONOR's UI Agent bypasses this entirely. Instead of communicating with apps through APIs, it reads the screen as a human would and responds to it accordingly.

This is a game-changer for the effectiveness of AI because it does away with the cost and labor of API collaborations. It also means that the AI can be integrated into any number of applications without having to wait for developers to roll out official versions—something Apple and Google have been battling against for decades.

The bad news? It's not quite there yet.

During the demo, HONOR's AI made a decent restaurant choice—but was unable to book the table because the system needed it to put in a credit card. So, while the AI can accomplish much on its own, it's not yet at the "set it and forget it" point.

HONOR's entrance is now as the whole smartphone world races headlong towards AI-first phones.

- Google's Gemini AI already exists within Android, and its promise is more aspects of next-gen assistants down the line.
- Samsung now sells its Galaxy AI features as an added aspect of its feature set on phones, including real-time translation and other smart functions.
- There is already a rumor that Apple is introducing a full AI rethinking to iOS 18 at some point during the fall of this year.

HONOR's risk on a GUI-focused AI rather than traditional API integration gives it a speed and agility benefit—but will it be enough to make a mark in the AI phone wars?

The question is whether and how consumers will embrace an AI that scans screens visually rather than deep within apps. If it succeeds, it will make HONOR's solution one of the cheapest and most versatile AI solutions on the market.

What Else is HONOR Doing? More AI, More Devices, More Investment

In addition to its AI assistant, HONOR shared a series of intriguing facts during MWC 2025:
- A $10 billion investment in the development of AI during the coming half-decade.
- AiMAGE camera photography AI-camera photography, supposedly capturing 50% clearer photos by on-board AI processing.
- A brand new MagicBook Pro 14 notebook, with increased AI-enforced performance optimization.
- AI wearables like HONOR Watch 5 Ultra and AI wearables HONOR Earbuds Open.

The most ambitious of them all is the seven-year Android update promise by HONOR to Magic series phones—competing with Google and Samsung's very own extended support commitment.

HONOR's AI assistant is a glimpse of the future when smartphones become do-more-for-us devices. Ditch the app switching—simply ask your AI what you need, and it sorts it out.

However, the question is whether HONOR can overtake Apple, Google, and Samsung in the AI race. Its strategy relies on a new paradigm of engaging with apps—one that does not rely on API support.

If it works, it could make AI assistants faster, cheaper, and more versatile than anything that is currently on the market.

If not? HONOR is just another company promising much with AI without delivering the real-world magic customers expect.

The proof will come, however, when HONOR's AI agent becomes a global proposition. Until then, it's a thrilling, ambitious step towards a future where our smartphones understand us better than ever.