Back in 2016, I was interviewed at WWDC about the latest iOS release, and my comments on Siri App integrations were listed under a heading - the “death of apps”.
Despite the interviewer taking slight journalistic liberties with my thoughts, I do think my general intent behind the words was actually captured quite well.
In a recent interview with Peter Steinberger, the creator of AI assistant, OpenClaw, he stated that 80% of apps will disappear because AI assistant will be able to handle the majority of features that users expect of their app. This statement was a real déjà vu moment, reminding me of my own comments back in 2016.
Did my prediction come true? No. Siri still can’t do it. But OpenClaw can.
Do I think an open-source tool will go mainstream and fulfil this goal? Probably not. It’s an incredible piece of software, and has created an entire new industry category. But in the same way decentralised crypto didn’t take off until companies centralised it and made it adoptable, I don’t think this is it. But will the big tech incumbents land something that does tap in to the average user and provide a launch pad for automations into their current apps? Almost certainly.