The topline messaging from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit was clear: enable AI everywhere through the high-performance, power efficient silicon used in a broad range of product categories — smartphones, of course, but also PCs, vehicles, wearables and XR devices. This is grounded by the idea that the “ecosystem of you” thrives when AI modalities and models are seamlessly integrated into a new type of intelligent system. As the devices and market develop, and the vision gradually comes into focus, Qualcomm understands both the AI ambition and the reality of constraints that will need to be addressed.
AI is all about joining connected compute and digital intelligence with hyper-personal context, then turning that into an increasingly agentic loop where multi-modal inputs are rapidly turned into reesponsive, intent-based outputs. And it’s happening; it may feel like it’s happening slowly but things like this tend to happen slowly then all at once. Smart glasses aren’t mainstream yet, but the wheel is turning. Because they see what you see and hear what you hear, they will complement the handset up until they surpass it as the defining device of the AI era.
The event on Maui opened as its predecessors have with the traditional Hawaiian pule ceremony, essentially an invocation or blessing. The point is to express connection with a place, with people and with the spiritual realm. By my count, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Hawaii 14 times since I was a child. It’s a beautiful place and a remarkable people with a fascinating history that should be understood, engaged with and acknowledged by visitors. I can recommend Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands by Gavan Daws as a good starting point, but I digress…
During the pule, one of the participants explained to the assembled media, analysts and other event attendees that a person is not truly welcome in place until there’s an “extension of voice” used to convey positive energy, wisdom, sight, strength and other physical and mental virtues that foster connection. In the context of the pule, this extension of voice establishes context and connection; it fosters progress.
In the context of the long arc of AI, the idea of an extension of voice also holds relevance — for years, the handset has been all about voice and, in many ways, voice is replacing the keyboard as a more intuitive, intentional input. As modalities expand beyond voice, context and connection are further emboldened. Intent is translated into action by intelligence, and it’s all brought together through connectivity. The totality of that fosters progress, or engineers human progress to directly borrow from a very good marketing tag line.
During his vision keynote, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon detailed the six trends the company is developing its Snapdragon portfolio to support: AI will decompose how we interact with apps making it the new UI, smartphone-centric experiences will give way to agent-centric experiences, computing architectures will evolve to create an edge-cloud continuum, models will become hybrid, right-sized for the right device and to match the intent ,edge data — that vital context needed to support the move from intent to outcome — becomes incredibly relevant, and future perceptive networks, including 6G, become a crucial avenue for connectivity.
Historically, “We learn how to use a computer,” Amon said. “We don’t have to do that anymore. The computer learns how to interact with us. As the AI can understand what we say, what we see, understand the context, where we are, what we write…This is a profound shift in computing.”
“The UI is located where the humans are,” he continued. “That is how we think about the future of…Snapdragon in the age of AI.” I had to go through my archives to find something I wrote in March 2024. I’d been using the Meta Ray-Ban glasses for a while and was also experimenting with Dexcom continuous glucose monitors. It was around then that it clicked for me that these devices, particularly the one using a tiny needle to sample my blood sugar level, were the best sources of personal data. I called it the human edge. The advancements in AI over the past 18 months give me clear line of sight to the powerful reality of “the ecosystem of you.”
As a user, my goal is to have more information faster, make better decisions and do more things better. Amon was joined by Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen for a fireside chat. Discussing the integration of AI tooling into Adobe products, Narayen said something to the effect of who wants to spend an hour doing something that can be done in a second if you have the right tools. I certainly don’t. I want that time back. You could use it to do the type of creative work machines can’t do, you could spend it with your family, read a book or take a walk. I like being creative, enjoying the company of my wife and son, reading books and walking around checking things out.
There’s a lot of discourse about the workforce implications of AI. Much of it feels overblown to me. It’s related to, but distinct from, other macro trends and always subject to change. Regardless, the core idea of using the right tools to win back time is powerful. Progress isn’t just about machines getting smarter. It’s about machines getting smarter so humans can be freer. The extension of voice is about speech and new interfaces, but it’s also about our ability to project intent into the world and have it understood. When technology reaches that point, it becomes invisible not because it disappears but because it becomes a part of us.
