Plugging in

Where we are going (prediction)

I was hoping to have access to try OpenAI's ChatGPT Plugins myself before writing about them, but it is just too important to continue to wait for whenever I get my chance. And in any case you can watch this Expedia demo video which they posted on twitter, "hey I'm thinking about a trip to Puerto Vallarta in April..." to see how the current version of Plugins is working.

First - what is a "Plugin?" Just 6 weeks ago I wrote a post - "The next few months in GenAI" - and called out the comment by Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez at the Generative AI conference: “Action is where we are all sprinting towards.” And here we are, with the first racer across the line, delivering on the promise of disrupting a key element of current mobile/web experience: e-commerce. A Plugin connects the ChatGPT interface to existing web infrastructure that can search for information and take actions on that information.

In the example Expedia video, the interaction is about a potential vacation and OpenAI's system uses Expedia to search for flight options, hotels, and even activities that can be booked. While the video doesn't show the next step, presumably the user can then book the flight, hotel and experience right within the chat interface.

Why is this important? First, forget about the text interface - this is a discussion between a person and a machine. It happens to be typed now, but there is very little distance left to having a voice conversation. Second, expand beyond Expedia to imagine any Internet accessible information and resource being accessible via this interface. A short list to get you started:

• Home automation connected devices (Nest thermostat for example)
• Email, calendar and contact list
• E-commerce sites
• Information source (weather, demographics)

So basically the new interface of discussion disrupts all of the existing web and mobile interfaces that we use to perform digital interactions today. And can connect them in any way that we can imagine.

"Can you give me a recipe for Cajun style chicken with summer vegetables?"

"Adjust the ingredient quantities for 8 people and place an order with Instacart"

Done - groceries ordered for my dinner party.

Prediction: We are about to experience a shift in digital consumption patterns bigger than the introduction of mobile in the late 2000s. In 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone less than 4% of US retail sales was online. Now it is over 16% and growing faster (predicted to be 1/4 of all sales by 2027). Capabilities like Uber were not even conceived until you had a mobile Internet device -- now we will have a mobile + AI voice interface. Just in the US retail sales are over $7 trillion a year -- Plugins (and the services behind them) are the equivalent of gold-rush picks and axes to unlock that wealth.