Global Intelligence Needs More Context, And Hardware Is Definitely Required
The fact that OpenAI acquired Jonny Ive's startup is really a warning shot across the bow of all the other AI companies out there.
If Jonny Ive is going to be creating a suite of hardware devices to harness global intelligence and make it relevant, Fidji Simo will be packaging the software and services that surround these devices.
Who’s Owning the Future of the AI Experience?
We have Anthropic thinking about how chat interfaces with services with MCP.
Google is thinking about how agents communicate with each other in A2A.
Yet no one is really going directly to the user to own the experience.
The reality is, the past is trapped by Google (Android/Chrome) and Apple (iPhone).
Why AI Needs a New Hardware Stack
OpenAI (and others) have no chance of owning the future without owning the next hardware stack.
While it could be a total boondoggle, turn us all into Metaverse gargoyles like the novel Snowcrash, it is also simply the only way forward.
Why Hardware is the Key to Context and Intelligence
If we are going to do amazing things as a human race, there aren't enough smart humans.
And we don't collaborate well enough.
Hardware is needed to provide better context and turn ambient computing into ambient intelligence that we can all access.
Open Protocols vs. Closed Knowledge Bases: The Next Battle?
Still, the line between the open protocols that are needed (like MCP, A2A — think about what TCP/IP is for the Internet) and the closed knowledge bases that result from the fact that different models like Grok own different types of data sources than OpenAI, and you have the makings of a real battle happening.
Final Thoughts on Where This Is All Headed
How it will turn out is speculation at best — by anyone. Including those doing the inventing (and investing). What we do know is this:
Each generation of technology just makes communication more efficient. Figure out how, and you have figured out a lot. It's almost always the killer app.
Personalized intelligence may not bring us together; it's just as likely to separate us.
Lastly, regardless of how many things agents help us buy, Amazon trucks will likely deliver it to us ;-).
Amazon Logistics is likely to say to the agent world: "that's a nice front end you got there, it's a shame you only have one system to deliver it."
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