Field Notes From the Edge
Every insight, every behavioral cue, every loyalty signal risks being swallowed by the assistant layer sitting between you and your audience.
This is the architecture of an AI operating system for daily life. And it raises existential questions for brands:
This is the architecture of an AI operating system for daily life. And it raises existential questions for brands:
- Who owns the persistent record of customer context?
- How do you build loyalty when memory and rel
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
The Apple principle: “Don’t ship novelty. Ship significance.”
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
If NOW is about new interfaces and NEXT is about composable systems and cultural rewiring, then FUTURE is about the deep shifts that will redefine how humans interact with technology itself.
In closed rooms across Silicon Valley, there was a clear signal:
In closed rooms across Silicon Valley, there was a clear signal:
We’re moving from gadgets in our hands... to intelligence all around us.
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
Meta, Google, Perplexity, and others are throwing their hats into the ring, each accelerating the race to build the dominant super-app. Whether it’s Google integrating Gemini deeper into Android, Meta weaving AI into WhatsApp and Instagram, or Perplexity pursuing agent-based shopping assistants, the same strategic goal is clear: own the conversatio... See more
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
LLMs becoming super apps by design.
The future of AI isn’t monolithic. It’s modular, dynamic, and orchestrated like a symphony.
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
One of the clearest signals from Nvidia, OpenAI, and even smaller startups was the rise of the Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture.
Instead of a single, giant LLM handling every task, MoE uses small, specialised models — each tuned for a specific domain (e.g. financial language, retail SKU logic, creative copywriting).
It’s cheaper: Not every query hits a massive model, reducing compute costs.
It’s faster: Only relevant experts “activate,” improving speed.
It’s more precise: Specialists outperform generalists in nuanced tasks.
learning is not an afterthought. It’s infrastructure.
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
The companies thinking furthest ahead are already prototyping for this world:
- Commerce will be conversational, not navigational.
- Brand interactions will be proactive, not reactive.
- The frontline of loyalty will be invisible.
In the ambient future, brands will compete not for screen real estate, but for mental bandwidth and emotional resonance.
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
It’s not either/or. It’s:
Because while plug-and-play power is seductive, strategic sovereignty is priceless.
Don’t run headfirst into an enterprise solution and shackle your company’s goldmine—your data, your insights, your competitive advantage—to a big provider who wi... See more
Closed models → fast experimentation
Proprietary models → scalable differentiation
Because while plug-and-play power is seductive, strategic sovereignty is priceless.
Don’t run headfirst into an enterprise solution and shackle your company’s goldmine—your data, your insights, your competitive advantage—to a big provider who wi... See more
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
If LLMs become the front doors to the internet, discovery changes fundamentally.
We’re moving from keyword search to conversational prompts like:
LLMs, and soon, their super-app incarnations, will decide which brands and produ... See more
We’re moving from keyword search to conversational prompts like:
“Plan me a sustainable dinner party for under £40.”
“Find me running shoes like the ones I bought last spring, but waterproof.”
LLMs, and soon, their super-app incarnations, will decide which brands and produ... See more
Zoe Scaman • Field Notes From the Edge
GEO is here