AI Needs a Body: Why Hardware is the Missing Link for the AI Revolution

AI Needs a Body: Why Hardware is the Missing Link for the AI Revolution

For years, the tech world has been wary of hardware. It’s expensive, complex, and full of risks, from thin profit margins to unpredictable supply chains. It's a tough game, and many have learned that the hard way.

Yet, a new perspective is emerging. We've created powerful AI models—digital gods, in a sense—but they’re trapped in a text box. We interact with them through screens, typing commands, and waiting for a response. This feels limiting. If AI is as transformative as we believe, shouldn't it be more integrated into our lives?

This is where hardware comes in. A growing number of founders believe that AI needs a body.

The Mobile Shift: A Case Study

Remember the early days of mobile? At first, smartphones just seemed like smaller computers. But then the form factor itself unlocked entirely new behaviors. Features like cameras, GPS, and payment capabilities led to the creation of companies like Uber, DoorDash, and Snap, which simply weren't possible on a desktop.

AI is waiting for its own mobile-like shift. The models are too large to run on our phones, and the primary way we interact with them is still through a screen. This is a critical point: the hardware has to change for new behaviors to emerge.

The Power of Passive Context

AI becomes infinitely more useful when it has a memory and context. The more an AI knows about your life, the more valuable it becomes. Think of the Oura ring, which uses over 180 biomarkers to provide personalized health insights. This is an example of passive input—collecting data without requiring constant effort from the user.

Most current AI tools rely on active input, like typing into a chat box. This is a big problem. People get lazy, and transcribing your daily life for an AI is not sustainable for the average person. Passive data collection is the key to making AI truly magical and seamlessly integrated into our daily lives. This is where hardware becomes essential—it can collect this data ambiently, as we move through the world.

The Hurdles for AI Hardware

So why aren’t we all walking around with AI pins or glasses yet? The biggest hurdle isn’t the technology itself—it’s social acceptability. A device that feels intrusive or creepy won’t be widely adopted. For AI hardware to break through, it needs to be:

• Invisible: It shouldn't feel like a futuristic gadget.

• Desirable: People have to want to use it.

• Purpose-Driven: It must offer a valuable use case that outweighs any privacy concerns.

The form factor is also a huge question. While some are experimenting with cameras and wearables, a lighter, more socially acceptable approach might start with sound. The device could house microphones to collect context without being intrusive.

A Look Toward the Future

The biggest question remains: what is the use case so valuable that people will trade off their privacy for it? The answer might not be a consumer product at all. One founder is building AI glasses for factory workers to train robots—a precise, valuable use case that doesn't rely on social appeal.

We’ve built a technology that’s too powerful to be confined to a text box. The next step is giving it a body—and the founders building in hardware right now might just be the ones to make it happen. What do you think the future of AI hardware looks like?