Did you actually read the article?
He's not talking about machines performing abstract reasoning or carrying out deep thought processes, or anything like that. The whole article is basically about client devices becoming powerful enough to run complex pattern recognition networks that have been generated in the cloud. This really has nothing to do with Sky Net.
And there's not even any real news, here. It's just a background piece that's specifically intended to educate people about what these new capabilities are, that client devices are gaining. I'd hope people would be
less likely to fear neural networks running in their phones, after reading this.
I'm starting to get annoyed by people reflexively trotting out that refrain, every time the subject of machine learning comes up. If we're to avoid a Sky Net scenario, then people will need to become more sophisticated in distinguishing the enabling technologies for true cognition, from run-of-the-mill machine learning that are the bread-and-butter of companies like Facebook and Google.