A robots native tongue

There is a ton of hype today about bots and AI interacting with users as the next bug computing interface.

To me, this misses the bigger question. The web has been many things — blog networks, bots, apps and platforms. All of these have been small pieces loosely joined — and I think it’s safe to say the internet will always be small pieces loosely joined.

So much focus is on all the devices and sensors that are getting “smart” or web connected, and on what physical appliance in our home will be the center of it all (phone, echo, xbox, nest, etc). The real question is — how do all of these things work together seamlessly?

The most dominant smartphone has been the product of Apple’s intense focus and integrated organization. That delivered a product that just works. When the internet is everywhere, when every device is “smart”, how do the smart devices talk to each other? I think it is unlikely that one company can produce everything (apple car rumors aside).

So when I buy a new speaker, how does that get added instantly to my home audio network? When I enter a hotel room, how do my netflix credentials get synced to the TV? How does the TV know to securely delete my viewing history and get ready for the next guest? When I go to the doctor, how does he get my Fitbit 20.0 data? When I switch from Fitbit to a different brand, do I lose all my health data history? Can software convert from one to another, or at least highlight the change for my doctor? When I switch doctors, can my medical data be remotely and automatically wiped from the old doctor’s systems and shared with my new doctors ‘s?

So much of what we do in a internet and AI enabled world will be about things just working, without us needing to get involved from any UI. What protocols and languages and capabilities need to be built to make that happen? How do the systems work together, seamlessly in the background, to share the right credentials and data at the right times? How do they requesst, provision, and pay for the right on demand resources? I think the answer will bring the next billion dollar industry along with it.