Android Creator Andy Rubin Bets Big On Quantum Computing And Smartphone AI

Android creator Andy Rubin has several tricks up his sleeve. Rubin's company Playground is currently tinkering with quantum computing and smartphone AI, and he believes that this combination could create a conscious intelligence that would underpin all of technology.

Rubin and his team of roughly fifteen engineers, who hold experience in everything from computer science to mechanical engineering, are currently working with about fifteen other companies to release new and innovative products. Playground enjoys “hatching” new companies within the company and using its vast resources. One such hatchling is a quantum computing firm that Rubin refuses to name. He thinks the company could one day commercialize quantum devices using standard manufacturing processes. Quantum computing has the potential to boost processing power.

Rubin theorizes that the future of tech is in a combination of quantum computing, AI, and robotics:

In order for AI to blossom and fulfill consumer needs, it has to be about data. That's where robotics come in — robots are walking mobile sensors, who can sense their environment and interact and learn from those interactions. Those two things combined in hundreds of years might get us to the point of this conundrum, who is the master and who is the servant and all that.

Despite this rather chilling statement, Rubin does not think that computers will be taking over the world -- at least not yet. AI is efficient at high-level pattern matching, but it struggles to apply expertise in one domain to other domains.

Rubin also predicts that the “cloud” will become obsolete and be taken over by offline sources. Robots will be particularly useful in this transition. Robots are mobile sensors that can sense their environment, interact, and learn from those interactions.

The Android creator still plans to experiment in the smartphone market, adding:

Remember, the thing that really keeps me going and gets me awake is when a new product is created that many people use...Every now and then we’ll do our pattern matching. We’ll notice that someone isn’t walking in the door. So we the notion of hatching companies out of Playground using the resources that are the bench of engineers, funding it and setting it free. I do have one actively being hatched in the mobile space.

Rubin is not just showing off his predictions. At the Bloomberg technology conference he revealed two pieces of hardware: a transponder for drones and a backpack that provides haptic feedback alongside music. These alongside his other rumored collaborations should make for an already interesting tech environment.