Amazon is betting on ambient computing, not apps, as the future of personal AI.
Alongside Bee’s launch of the company’s new AI wearable, Panos Panay, Amazon’s SVP of Devices, Alexa & Leo, took to the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Thursday to talk more about where he sees personal computing heading.
“A lot of times what you’re doing right now, and what we’re all doing right now, is you have to remember what you want the tool to do,” Panay began, explaining how this is how we interact with modern smartphones. “It’s like points, shots, returns,” Panay continued. “I think what we’re heading towards is a world that starts with ambient devices.”
By “ambient devices,” he means devices that work quietly in the background and use sensors and AI to help users figure out what they need to do, rather than telling the device what they need to do.
“It works in the background, so you can stay more present and get more done. You’re going to spend more time with people… You’re not scared if you miss something. It’s incredibly powerful,” Panay said.
Amazon’s biggest entry into this space is the series of new Bee devices it announced Thursday. These include a band that can be worn on the wrist or detached to wear as a pendant, and a new device the size of a credit card that attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone.
These gadgets passively record audio, take notes from your day, and find to-dos, reminders, and insights you need to refer to later. To balance convenience and user privacy, Bee’s devices don’t actually store the live audio of conversations. Process your audio in real time and delete it when you’re done. Conversation transcripts are encrypted using keys created and controlled by your device. That means no one else, including Amazon employees, can access those files unless you intentionally share them.
Panay said privacy is a key consideration in how these new ambient devices work.
“You have to give the customer control,” he said. “Every product is different, but especially with Bee, as an example of that kind of ambient space, you have to design with privacy in mind. And that’s what we’re doing. It’s important.”
The executive, who came to Amazon after 19 years at Microsoft overseeing the development of Surface devices, has spent much of his life thinking about how personal computing will evolve. For Bee, and ambient computing more generally, Panay also envisioned a future where the concept of interacting with an app becomes less important as more tasks are handled through AI.
“Do you think there’s going to be a future where there’s a little bit more balance, where a whole generation isn’t going to say, ‘Give me the app,’ but just understand what I need? Yes, I think so. I think that change is coming. I think it’s the next generation,” he said.
That doesn’t necessarily mean smartphones themselves will remain important personal computing devices (as much as Amazon hopes Alexa tablets or Echo smart speakers will become), Panay pointed out. Rather, we believe we will see new devices that use sensors to better understand you and bring intelligence to the world around you.
“I’m not a proponent of one form factor replacing another. I don’t think that’s the case,” he clarified. “I think there’s a layer of intelligence that ties everything together…and that should help.”
If you make a purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect editorial independence.
