Did you hear that 2012 is the year of the assistant? It’s clear: Siri was only the beginning.
Today, assistants can perform a small set of tasks, each saving me a few precious steps (or clicks) along the way. That’s not the way it’s always going to be. In the future, assistants will be capable of doing more and more non-trivial things for us.
One school of thought says that assistants should be all about delegation. I pass tasks downstream, and in doing so, I reclaim my time and energy.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. At A.R.O., we think the ultimate use case for intelligent software applications — like assistants — is much more basic. It’s helping us all make the most of our lives before we run out of time.
Assistants shouldn’t just take things off your proverbial plate — but rather, they should also look to put things on it as well. Your software assistant should guide you down paths less traveled — and aspire to help you be a better version of you.
It’s not enough to be just an assistant anymore. I like having an assistant. But I want a companion too.
A companion is more intimate. That’s the allure. It’s more personal, more…me. It’s additive, bringing new data and new considerations, looking around corners and recognizing patterns I can’t yet see.
With a companion, you’ll have to give more to get more, too. It’s more of a partnership, and a true love. A companion is an emotionally evolved species. Better put, a companion actually aspires to help me be a better human, and lead a better human life. A companion is about more than just finding me an ATM, conducting a web search, or deleting a calendar entry. It’s about achieving goals, and revealing truths.
At a time when Siri clones are sprouting up left and right, we’re all are wondering what’s next. We’re ready to let software assistants into our lives into a new way. We’re ready for a companion.
And A.R.O. is the company that will bring it to you. Stay tuned.