In my last post, I said your next customer will be an AI assistant, not a human. I've been spending the last week testing Muse, and yesterday I got access to Hark, the new AI assistant from Brett Adcock, the founder of Figure. Figure builds humanoid robots, and many of my friends have invested in the company and are impressed by it. The AI assistants are all pretty good.
That got me thinking about something I can't shake: who wins if all the AI assistants are pretty much the same?
It won't be about smarts or data
There are going to be a lot of good options. Meta's Muse, Figure's Hark, OpenAI's Dots, and I guarantee Google will have one too.
Data won't be the difference. Google won't win just because it has your Gmail, because Muse can connect to your Gmail too. You might trust Google more than Meta, but I don't think most people care that much about privacy, unfortunately.
So if dozens of assistants are all pretty good, what makes consumers choose one over the others? My bet is hardware.
Think about the iPhone
Nobody wakes up and says, "I want iOS." They say, "I want an iPhone," and iOS comes with it. Samsung works the same way with Android. You pick the device, and the software is part of the package.
I think AI assistants will work the same way. You'll pick the gadgets you love, and the AI assistant will come with them. That's probably why every company building AI assistants is investing in hardware. OpenAI (maker of ChatGPT and Dots) bought Jony Ive's hardware startup to build devices, and Meta (Muse) makes glasses.
It also works the other way. Hardware companies like Tesla are adding AI assistants (Grok in the car), and Figure's founder started Hark.
It's already happening to me
I use Muse on my phone and my computer. Then I get in my Tesla, which has Grok built in. I say, "Let's keep working on that problem from earlier," and it has no idea what I'm talking about. All that context lives in Muse.
I doubt Tesla will ever let Muse run in the car. Apple doesn't let other operating systems run on the iPhone, either. They want to keep you inside their world.
Now add the rest of your life. The glasses you wear. The car you drive, or the robotaxi you ride in. And the big one, a humanoid robot at home. You'd want it to know everything you're working on, on your computer, your phone, all of it. If I buy a Figure humanoid, I'd guess I'm using Hark, and then I'd use Hark on my phone and computer too. A Tesla humanoid would likely mean Grok. And if I wear Meta's glasses all day, Muse is the one I'd pick.
My pick
I'm leaning toward Tesla's Grok to win. Tesla will own the hardware for both the car (or robotaxi) and the humanoid, and I expect to spend more time with those two than with any other device, except maybe my iPhone. But Apple doesn't seem to be in this AI assistant fight, and even if it were, I haven't heard any rumors of Apple building a car or a humanoid anytime soon.
Meta's glasses are my runner-up, because I can see myself wearing them every day. And who knows what OpenAI or Anthropic will release with hardware.
The best AI assistant probably won't win. The one built into the things you can't live without will.
What do you think? Which one wins? Tell me in the comments.