Carl Pei, the co-founder and CEO of Nothing, has articulated a bold vision for the future of mobile technology, one that transcends the current paradigm dominated by the iPhone and traditional applications. According to Pei, this future will be powered by advanced AI agents, fundamentally rendering the concept of apps obsolete. He conveyed this perspective during an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin, emphasizing a coming disruption for any startup or founder whose core value proposition is tied solely to an app.

Pei's AI-first device vision has been a cornerstone of Nothing's strategic direction, notably helping the company secure a $200 million Series C funding round. At that time, the pitch centered on a new type of smartphone leveraging AI and personalization technology so accurate that users would not feel the need to verify its output. At SXSW, Pei elaborated on the pathway to this future, outlining distinct stages of AI integration.

The initial stage, which he dismisses as "super boring," involves AI features that can execute simple commands on a user's behalf, such as booking flights or hotels. Pei believes the truly transformative shift will occur in the subsequent stage, where AI evolves to comprehend a user's long-term intentions. He illustrated this by suggesting a device could provide proactive nudges to help someone achieve health goals, or even surface suggestions for things users didn't consciously know they wanted, akin to ChatGPT's memory capabilities.

Pei strongly criticized the current smartphone user experience, describing it as