Cristiano Amon on the AI Agent Revolution

Imagine stepping into a future where your eyewear is more than just a visual aid; it’s a portal to seamless, AI-powered interaction. Picture yourself walking down the street, a thought flickers: a dinner reservation. Instead of fumbling for your smartphone, you simply speak. A sophisticated digital assistant, orchestrating across various applications—from restaurant booking platforms to payment services and email for confirmation—instantly secures your table and sends a confirmation directly to your visual display.

This is the emerging landscape of AI agents, woven into a new generation of consumer devices, as envisioned by Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, a company pivotal to the technology powering our connected lives. Amon shared this vision, explaining how these agents will serve as the new interface, transcending the traditional app paradigm.

“Apps are not dead, but apps are going to change,” Amon stated in a recent interview. “Those agents are going to be the new app.”

Our ongoing conversations with Amon have often centered on the evolution of the smartphone, a device that has continually pushed the boundaries of innovation with advancements like foldable displays and sophisticated camera systems. While digital assistants from tech giants like Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s Bixby have been available for years, they have yet to fully realize their potential. However, with the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence models, these assistants are poised for a significant leap in capability.

This evolution in AI also signifies a fundamental shift in the hardware that underpins our digital existence. “The phone is around the agent. The new classes of devices… are going to be around the agent as well,” Amon elaborated. This paradigm shift is expected to catalyze a new wave of device innovation.

Qualcomm is actively exploring this frontier, with Amon revealing the company is working on over 40 distinct designs for AI-powered gadgets. These include not only advanced smart glasses but also innovative concepts like jewelry, earbuds equipped with cameras, smart pins, and next-generation watches. The underlying principle is to create devices that are always with the user, capable of perceiving the surrounding environment to provide contextual awareness and effortless access to AI agents.

While Amon expresses excitement for the breadth of potential AI-enabled wearables, he holds a particular conviction in the future of smart glasses. He anticipates they could eventually rival the smartphone in market dominance, a sector that saw over 1.2 billion units shipped globally last year. The prospect of an “agentic experience” on consumer devices is undeniably compelling, offering vast potential use cases. However, the success of this transition will hinge on a delicate balance between user privacy and enhanced functionality. As AI agents become more integrated into our daily lives, addressing privacy concerns will be paramount.

Furthermore, this technological transformation raises intriguing questions about the broader device ecosystem. Will this new era of AI gadgets challenge the established dominance of industry leaders like Apple and Samsung, or will these companies strategically lead the charge in this innovative wave?

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