No CEO Carl Pei says smartphone apps will disappear as AI agents take their place
Carl Pei, founder and CEO of Nothing, envisions a future beyond the iPhone — and a device powered by AI agents, which doesn’t use apps.
“Regarding AI in software, I think people should understand that applications will disappear,” said Pei, whose name is an electronics consumer that makes unique smartphones and other accessories. “So, if you’re an innovator or a startup and your operating system is like where the core value lies, that’s going to be disrupted whether you like it or not.”
Pei made the comments during an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin on Wednesday.
The founder has talked about the first AI device before, as the idea helped the company close its $200 million Series C funding last year. At the time, Nothing was envisioning a new type of smartphone that uses AI and personalization technology that is accurate enough so that its users don’t feel they have to walk behind the AI and double-check its output.
At SXSW, Pei expanded on his vision for an AI-first device and the steps needed to get there.
The first step, which is being tested by some companies today, is an AI feature that can execute commands on behalf of users, such as booking flights or hotels. Pei, however, dismissed the move as “very boring.”
The next step is where things can get really interesting, as the AI begins to learn the user’s intentions over time. For example, if you wanted to be in better health, the device could give you a nudge to help you achieve your goals.
“I think it becomes more powerful when it starts to show you suggestions; you don’t have to come up with an idea…if the program knows it well, it will come up with things that we don’t see. [know] we wanted it,” Pei explained, comparing the concept to something like ChatGPT’s memory feature.
Explaining how he envisioned the first AI smartphone, Pei said it would be a device that would do things for you without needing to be instructed.
“The current way we use phones is very old school. Pre-iPhone…there were Palm Pilots and PDAs way back when. And if you think about the user experience, it’s still very much the same,” Pei said. “You have lock screens, home screens, apps. You browse different apps. Each app is like a full-screen thing. There’s some kind of app store that lets you download other apps. So it hasn’t changed that much, 20 years.”
This frustrated him because the technology used by consumers has changed quite a bit, but the products we use do not. Even simple tasks make us jump through many steps, he explains.
“It’s very difficult to do things over the phone,” said Pei. “Let’s say we want to grab a coffee. That’s the goal. But to achieve that goal, we have to go through a lot of different steps and a lot of different apps. It’s almost like four apps to grab a coffee with someone — a messaging app, some kind of maps, Uber, a calendar.”
He continued: “I think the future of smartphones or operating systems should just be: ‘I know you very well, and if I know your purpose, I just do it for you,’ instead of having to use all the applications manually.”
“It should do it with AI,” he said.
This also means that the devices will have an interface that is not focused on apps for people to navigate, but instead will have an interface designed for use by an AI agent.
That doesn’t mean the apps are going away anytime soon, Pei warns. The Nothing operating system even allows users to code their own small applications today. But ultimately, AI will need to be able to use an “app” in a consistent way, not trying to mimic the human touch on smartphones by going through menus and tapping options.
“That’s not the future. The future is not an agent using a human interface. You need to create an interface for the agent to use. I think that’s the future-proof way to do it,” Pei said.
