Many of the largest consumer digital technology companies have, or are preparing to introduce, a digital (or, virtual) assistant. The list includes Alibaba (AliGenie), Amazon (Alexa), Apple (Siri), Baidu (DuerOS), Facebook (M/Aloha), Google (Assistant), Line (Clova), Microsoft (Cortana), Samsung (Bixby), Xiaomi (Xiao Ai), plus any number of lesser-known assistants.

Although this is partly driven simply by advances in machine learning — digital assistants are happening now because they couldn’t happen before — the larger reason for all the interest is because of how consumer internet technology is changing — and how it’s set to change even more in the coming years.

Ten years ago we mostly accessed the internet on desktop (or laptop) computers. Five years ago it would have largely been a mix of desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Today we can add smart speakers, smart watches, and in-car systems. Over the next five years we’ll see the internet embedded into more of the world around us, from earphones to smart home objects and smart garments, to augmented reality glasses.

The internet will be with us all day, every day, everywhere. No longer experienced solely through screens or speakers, there will be multiple surfaces capable of providing access to systems and services with contextual interactions. You might ask a question with your voice, your keyboard, or your camera. You might get a response through a screen, a speaker, or vibrations. You might sign up for an event on your phone, ask your smart speaker for directions, be guided to your destination by signals in your jacket, and ask questions about the schedule through your headphones.

The controller for all this context will be your digital assistant: a meta-operating-system across all the surfaces of your interactions with the internet. Your assistant will have the history of your behaviour and the future of your actions. It will need to be smart and capable enough to manage your conversations across the meta-OS so you don’t need to keep repeating information.

(For all this to work seamlessly you’ll have to pick an assistant; the context across surfaces won’t be useful if Google has your calendar, Apple has your music, and Alexa has your purchase history. At some point soon you’ll need to decide upon a single assistant, and that will define your future choices of hardware; there will be a cost to switching.)