What comes after chat as the interface for computers?

We’ve spent decades learning how to operate computers through apps.

Open Salesforce. Find the account. Check Slack. Search email. Update Linear. Send the follow-up.

AI is starting to change that abstraction.

A personal assistant can sit above those tools, understand what you’re trying to accomplish, find the relevant context, and operate the software for you. Messaging is a convenient interface for this because you can just say what you want done.

But I don’t think messaging is the final interface either.

The interesting shift is from operating software → describing an outcome.

Instead of opening five apps, you say:

“Get me ready for the Acme renewal and make sure nothing is blocking it.”

The computer figures out where to look, what needs to happen, and where it needs your judgment.

Over time, I think we’ll interact less with individual applications and more with a persistent assistant that understands our work and operates them on our behalf.

We’re exploring this with Iris through iMessage and Slack right now, but those are probably just transitional interfaces.

Curious what people here think:

What does the interface after chat look like?

Is it messaging, voice, something ambient at the OS level, or eventually almost no interface at all?