No object will replace the smartphone…

…because the smartphone is no longer an object; it has become an extension of the human being. And this extension can be replaced…

Spacer from the Apple TV Foundation series, a member of a race of genetically modified navigators

[This note was originally written in French. I partly used Deepl for the translation.]

62% of French people have increased the amount of time they spend in front of their mobile screen during confinement (study conducted by Ifop in 2020), which confirms what we are all already witnessing: it has insinuated itself into every moment of our lives. Driving, walking, toileting, eating, waking up, brushing our teeth, having sex…

Between the AI pin and the supposed return of smart glasses, we’ve been talking for a few months now about replacing the smartphone and its extensions (pods, watches, rings, glasses)…

But what kind of usage are we talking about?

We use our phones to connect to social networks, to chat, to play games, to watch films, to listen to music, to get information, to shop, to subscribe, to get directions, to control our bodies, to control the smart objects in our homes, to manage our time, to manage our budget, to work, and sometimes even to make phone calls…

Each of these tasks requires the application of different senses and cognitive functions, depending on our context at the time of use: are we comfortable with the technology? Are we disabled? Do we have an auditory, visual or kinaesthetic memory? What is our capacity for abstraction? Do we tend to be more in control or more ‘let-go’? Are we alone and undisturbed? Do we have an emergency to deal with?

User background

Activity
Objectives - Level of expertise - Habits - Frequency of use - Constraints

Human factors
Memory - Laws of perception - User's frame of reference - Emotions

Environmental factors
Weather, light, reflections - Human interactions / interruptions - Network coverage - Noise - Vibration, movement

Cognitive extension

The smartphone and its connections are already revolutionising all our cognitive functions:

• Attention. On the one hand, this mobile phone can throw us into information overload, which requires joint attention; on the other, it can be a tool that facilitates the automation of part of our selective attention (the choice of what information deserves what treatment). For example, accompanied by noise-reducing headphones, we can go so far as to pay sustained attention to our interaction with our smartphone that we forget about the rest of the world. This is the famous focus;
• Memory. The smartphone is a research tool that enables us to verify information, and part of our memory may have been transferred to it: we no longer search in our memories, we use a search engine or a personal assistant;
• Executive functions. These are mental operations requiring several stages: planning, controlling and regulating action, mental flexibility. The supervision of our daily lives (health, family, travel, planning, connection to our various circles, etc.) can also be facilitated by the smartphone and the personal assistant. However, the need for control will be facilitated by a visual support (screen) to master the most complex information (busy schedule over a week). For many people, manual manipulation will make it easier to understand the consequences of an action, and therefore facilitate decision-making and mental flexibility; visuo-spatial and language functions — let’s skip the obvious ones linked to mobility and the possibilities of immediate translation, which are already usable. The visuo-spatial function also includes the mental image, which can be linked to all the other cognitive functions. Today, maps and computer graphics are used primarily as a support for the mental visualisation of objects and flows.

Extension through smart objects

Image from the first video presentation of Soli, a man checks the time using a touchless gesture

• Gesture. It’s easy to imagine object control based on gesture and/or presence detection.
  Google ATAP (Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group), for example, has been working for ten years on the Soli project to offer this kind of object control.
• Vision. In the same films and TV series, we regularly see the idea of an informational ‘layer’ appearing on top of what we are seeing, and we are obviously thinking of Google Glasses, which proposed to transfer part of the mobile phone onto the glasses. It remains to be seen whether humans can adapt their bodies and minds over the long term to this new layer of information, and therefore to divided attention.
• Digital twins. We often see in SF the 3D projection of objects and their structures, which become an incredible medium of representation where only 2D plans and mental images exist.
  We can also imagine a medium linking memory and mental image to create our own Memory palace in which we can move around. The journey is important in this method.
• The mind. Finally, the object of many fantasies: the implant powered by artificial intelligence. Neuralink, one of Elon Musk’s companies, has already carried out its first implant test on a human patient. While one of its stated ambitions is to restore sight to the blind, it’s easy to imagine augmenting that sight with a layer of information. Telepathy, telekinesis of smart objects can also be added to the projects.
• Dialogue. This subject has already been covered at the basic level with pods and headsets. The major challenge remains the private aspect and respect for public spaces. Companies are beginning to promise nomadic objects that offer bubbles of silence (others can’t hear you) and noise neutralisers (you can’t hear others).

AI Pin, an alternative?

To propose an innovation, you need to answer 4 questions to define its value:
1. What problem do we want to solve?
2. What solution do we want to provide?
3. What are users doing today to get round the problem?
4. How will we get them to change their habits for our solution?

Humane, the creators of the AI Pin, have come up with a tiny, intelligent, autonomous computer that will fetch the right AI and the right information when we tell it to. The video above will tell you more.

We believe in building innovative technology that is familiar, natural and human.
Technology that enhances the human experience and is born out of good intentions.
Products that put us back in touch with ourselves, with each other and with the world around us.
Experiences built on trust, with interactions that feel magical and bring joy.
Humane is the next step between humans and computers.
The best human experience ever.
Humane

1. The problem is an unspoken one: the smartphone is a technological extension that interferes with us, so the solution would be a technology that frees us from all that while maintaining a link with the web. But who is this tool aimed at? Do smartphone users want to ‘detox’ from social networks, online games and series? According to one study
   2. So the uses don’t fit with those of a smartphone: goodbye constant connection to social networks, goodbye Netflix games and series. In short, goodbye to the main uses of smartphones, but let’s keep the music, information and “administrative” aspects.
   3. To avoid the problem :
   - users don’t have a smartphone or…
   - users have bought a Light phone (a phone with the essentials for communicating and getting around) or…
   - users limit the use of their smartphone themselves.
   4. The biggest problem is changing usage… A study shows that young people are prepared to pay for Tik Tok to disappear, but that they would have to be paid to leave Tik Tok (if the app still exists)… It’s going to take more than a helping hand to get these lines moving.
   Study carried out on 600 American students in 2023

Limited usage…
Without a screen, no games, no videos… This object could have been presented as an extension of the mobile phone, but the ambition is to replace the smartphone. The subscription (a telephone number, cloud storage, an unlimited number of requests to AIs) seems to increase the choice between smartphone and AI Pin.

Another cognitive paradigm…
Cognitive extension is increased for attention and memory functions.
AI Pin, on the other hand, provides instant assistance and has little support for executive functions (e.g. visualising a complex schedule) and visuo-spatial functions (e.g. seeing a complex map). It shifts part of the supervision to frozen moments. In terms of language, the quasi-immediate translator is simple, but could exist on other media.
Overall, the solution fulfils the cognitive promise: the object is a much less invasive medium that helps to restore the balance between the physical world and the web.

…opening up a whole new world of possibilities
This voice- and gesture-controlled object opens the way to simplified control of connected objects (including home automation).
The big question remains, do we want to live our lives :
A/ On a screen?
B/ In a connected world?
C/ In a low-tech world?