His comment piece posits that we are moving towards a post Operating System world, and AI is the key agent of change.

Adding value

Basically, Intelligent assistants are finding a place higher in the value chain, above the previously all-determining proprietary platform. And that is where Google is increasingly focusing its attention.

He writes:

Unlike its classic rivals Apple and Microsoft, of course, Google has always been a cross-platform company — one that ultimately wants you to use its services in any manner, even if you won’t use its operating system alongside them. But even so, the level of resources and attention we’re starting to see devoted to Assistant marks a seismic shift. It truly is the start of a post-OS mentality, where the question of what operating system you use takes a back seat to that of which virtual assistant you allow into your life.

The underlying motivation for Google, he points out, is money (of course) and that Google’s business model revolves around online advertising. The potential omnipresence of intelligent Assistants plays well in an increasingly always-on, ever-connected, app-based world, where conventional web browsing and related ad-serving have less relevance.

Read the full article – Welcome to the post-OS era

It’s recommended. The world is changing, inevitably, and AI is coming, inexorably, and this idea has the ring of truth, for me.

Android Things

A small bit of supporting evidence? Look at the presence of Android Things at CES 2018, where it seems mainly to serve to enable the use of Google Assistant.

For example, turning forthcoming LG ThinQ WK7 speakers (pictured) into AI-powered speakers, courtesy of Google Assistant, courtesy of Android Things. The name of the game is the assistant not Android itself.

Ten Year Futures

While we’re on recommendations, and the subject of future technology developments check out Benedict Evans, of Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (‘a16z’).

There are are interesting thoughts on “S trends” in technology supporting future evolutions. His thoughts for the delivery of AI match all the above.

See the video presentation – Presentation: Ten Year Futures

It was a keynote at Andreessen Horowitz’s annual ‘Tech Summit’ conference back in December. He is “talking about the state of tech and what’s likely to happen in the next decade: mobile, Google / Apple / Facebook / Amazon, innovation, machine learning, autonomous cars, mixed reality and crypto-currencies”.