Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of Nothing, envisions a future beyond the iPhone. The iPhone doesn’t run apps; it’s a device with an AI agent.
“In terms of AI in software, I think people need to understand that apps are going to die,” said Pei, whose consumer electronics brand makes unique smartphones and other accessories. “So if you’re a founder or a startup and your app has some kind of core value, it’s going to be destroyed whether you like it or not.”
Pei made the comments Wednesday in an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin.
The founders have talked about AI-first devices before, as this vision helped the company close a $200 million Series C funding round last year. At the time, Nothing was pitching the idea of a new kind of smartphone using AI and personalization technology that was so accurate that users wouldn’t feel the need to double-check the AI and its output.
At SXSW, Pei expanded on his vision of AI-first devices and the steps needed to get there.
The first step, currently being tested by some companies, is AI capabilities that can perform commands on your behalf, such as booking flights or hotels. But Mr Pei dismissed this step as “very tedious”.
The next step could make things even more interesting, as AI starts learning user intent over time. For example, if you want to become healthier, your device can give you tips on how to achieve your goal.
“I think it becomes even more powerful when suggestions start appearing. We don’t have to think of ideas manually…When the system knows us well, it starts coming up with things we want (and don’t know),” Pei explained, comparing the concept to something like ChatGPT’s memory feature.
Pei explained how he envisions an AI-first smartphone, saying it would be a device that does things for you without being told to do so.
“The way we use phones today is very antiquated. This was before the iPhone…back in the day, we had Palm Pilots and PDAs. And if you think about the user experience, it’s still very similar,” Pei said. “You have a lock screen, you have a home screen, you have apps. You browse through different apps. Each app is like a full-screen thing. There’s a kind of app store where you can download more apps. So it hasn’t changed in about 20 years.”
This frustrated him because while the technology consumers are using has evolved considerably, the products we use have not. He explained that even simple tasks require jumping through multiple steps.
“It’s very difficult to get things done over the phone,” Pei said. “Let’s say you want to get coffee. That’s an intention. But to carry out that intention, you have to go through so many different steps and so many different apps. To get coffee with someone, you probably need four apps: a messaging app, some kind of map, Uber, and a calendar.”
He continued, “I think the future of smartphones and operating systems should be, ‘I know you so well that once I know what you mean, I’ll just do it for you,’ instead of having to manually run every app.”
“It has to be done through AI,” he says.
This also means that the device will have an interface designed for use by AI agents, rather than an app-focused interface for human interaction.
That doesn’t mean apps will disappear in the near future, Pei cautioned. Now, with Nothing’s proprietary operating system, users can even vibe-code their own mini-apps. But ultimately, the AI should be able to use “apps” in a frictionless way, rather than navigating menus and tapping options, trying to mimic human touch on a smartphone.
“That’s not the future. The future isn’t about agents using human interfaces. We have to create interfaces that agents use. I think that’s a more future-proof approach,” Pei said.
