Why AI Is the Next Tech Battleground

At this year's Google I/O, the company announced Now On Tap, the next-gen version of its Google Now digital assistant, which can contextually improve how you experience apps using an updated machine-learning algorithm and something it calls "deep linking." The idea is that if you get a text saying to meet at a certain restaurant, Now On Tap is smart enough to put it on your calendar, provide a map, and serve up the menu. It could also provide details about parking and nearby shops based on your Google profile preferences.

Microsoft made a similar announcement regarding Cortana at its Build developer conference, as did Apple with Siri at WWDC, which suggests that the consumerization of artificial intelligence (AI) will be the next major tech battleground.

In an excellent piece for Fast Company, John Brownlee asks whether the user interface (UI) or AI will win the war in this new battleground.

"The thing is, Google knew something we didn't," he wrote. "It knew that Apple's taste was a temporary advantage. It knew that designing a host of functional, universally integrated services was harder than designing pixels. And in the protracted thermonuclear war between Apple and Google, which first started when the search giant launched Android in 2008, Google knew that ultimately, it would be AI, not UI, that would win the war."

While I agree that AI is the new battleground, I would argue that the UI is still critical to the success of a mobile OS. After talking to Apple officials at WWDC, I am convinced that it has a deeper level of research going on in AI than Brownlee would believe. I also believe that Microsoft has seriously invested in machine learning and AI, and that too is being applied to Cortana and Windows 10.

On a personal level, this can't come fast enough for me. Like many readers, my days are packed with meetings, research, and writing, and I admit that I often miss the little things. For example, I often head off to a meeting thinking I know where I am going only to get halfway there and realize I did not have the proper directions or even the right location. Too many times I have had to pull over, check my email, go to Google Maps, and find the exact route. Or, I may head to Office Depot only to get there and forget why I went in the first place. 

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Now, you may just think I am disorganized. That may be true in some cases, but the reality is that I have information overload that deeply impacts my overall efficiency. An AI-based personal assistant that anticipates my next move is something that I would pay for, and I suspect others would, too. For many of us, this would be our killer app.

Although smartphone vendors can still differentiate around OS, design, and UI, I agree with Brownlee that contextual AI-based services needs to be the next major investment for these big players. Within the next two years, I believe users are going to demand more proactive contextual services that add greater value to our mobile and overall PC experiences and help us better manage our digital lifestyles. If done right, this could be a game changer for all of us who use this technology. I just hope Apple, Google, and Microsoft double up on this research and make it a reality soon.