Tony Fadell on why the first wave of AI gadgets failed — and what comes next

Tony Fadell argues the first wave of AI gadgets failed because they solved no real business or consumer pain point, lacked trust, and tried to force cloud-connected assistants into workflows people weren’t ready to delegate to. For CIOs and technology leaders, the key implication is that the next AI platform wave will hinge less on novelty and more on secure, on-device intelligence, privacy controls, and integration into real workflows—areas where IT must set governance, data-access rules, and adoption criteria before scaling pilots.