Tech | AI | Future Tech
Screens are so yesterday. Your next call will be ON your hand, not in it.
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AI is now the central force impacting every aspect of our conversations as of late. During the recent six-day TED 2023 event in Vancouver, where the brightest minds gathered to explore the potential of AI, Imran Chaudhri, former Apple designer and founder of the secretive AI startup Humane, took the stage and offered a tantalizing glimpse into the future of AI and human interaction.
Chaudhri, renowned for his groundbreaking design work on iconic Apple products, including the iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods, introduced Humane’s latest endeavor — a pocket-sized personal AI device. The startup, which raised an impressive $100 million in funding in March, aims to revolutionize how we engage with AI and the world around us.
During his captivating TED talk, Chaudhri showcased the device, which nestled inconspicuously in his shirt pocket, with a small cell-phone-style camera peering above the fabric. The demonstration highlighted the device’s remarkable capabilities, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
Chaudhri effortlessly took a call from his wife, Bethany Bongiorno, also a former Apple Director of Software Engineering and co-founder of Humane. Using an interface projected onto his palm via laser projection, Chaudhri displayed the device’s innovative interface. The possibilities seemed limitless as he engaged with a translation feature, seamlessly converting his spoken English sentence into French, capturing not just the words but his voice, cadence, and tone.
The device’s prowess extended beyond translation. Chaudhri requested the personal assistant feature to summarize his recent emails and calendar invites, providing a snapshot of his digital life. Utilizing the device’s camera, he effortlessly scanned the ingredients of a candy bar, seeking guidance on whether it aligned with his dietary needs. With an intolerance for cocoa butter, Chaudhri’s AI companion recommended skipping the treat, yet accepted his decision to indulge without judgment.
Chaudhri shared his team’s tireless efforts to reimagine and redesign compute interactions, exploring complex voice commands and intricate hand gestures to establish more natural ways of engaging with technology. He marveled at the device’s ability to eliminate the need to fumble for a phone, instead allowing users to hold an object and interact effortlessly. The world, he claimed, becomes your operating system.
The potential of Humane’s pocket-sized AI device extends far beyond its current capabilities. Chaudhri envisions a future where technology becomes more humane and intuitive, offering seamless, screenless, and sensing interactions. With this innovation, the relationship between humans and technology is poised for an extraordinary transformation, reimagining our understanding of human-tech dynamics.
While Chaudhri left many details under wraps, promising more to come in the following months, his remarkable track record at Apple hints at the profound impact Humane’s device may have on our lives. A more “humane” personal AI device may soon be within our grasp, offering a new era of human-technology synergy. The future, it seems, is arriving sooner than we think.
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