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> Why would companies want to expose APIs in this manner? They don't. But why would record companies want to license their music to streaming services instead

> Why would companies want to expose APIs in this manner? They don't. But why would record companies want to license their music to streaming services instead of selling CDs? If the AI is there, and it offers a superior experience to users, the companies that don't support it will disappear. > this way, someone could just have their AI do these tasks in an automated way, without paying some company for the privilege. You're assuming that APIs need to be free, but that doesn't need to be the case. Companies that provide data will need to charge for that, just like record companies charge Spotify when you stream music. Companies that provide a service (Amazon, Uber etc) won't be happy that they lose marketing opportunities and brand recognition, but again, if the user experience is superior to the old app ways, those companies that don't adapt will die.

midoridensha 4y ago
>If the AI is there, and it offers a superior experience to users, the companies that don't support it will disappear. For that to happen, the AI needs to already be working. If the companies proactively prevent this from happening, then users won't have any basis for comparison. Closed APIs will prevent them from having the ability to program their own AI to do these things. >You're assuming that APIs need to be free, but that doesn't need to be the case. Companies that provide data will need to charge for that, just like record companies charge Spotify when you stream music. Sure, companies could require you to have a subscription to access the API, but they can make more money by controlling the experience instead of just giving you (paid) access to the API. >Companies that provide a service (Amazon, Uber etc) won't be happy that they lose marketing opportunities and brand recognition, Yes, this is exactly my point. >but again, if the user experience is superior to the old app ways, those companies that don't adapt will die. Users won't easily go backwards to proprietary access when they're used to (more) open access to something, but this isn't the case in this scenario: the users haven't had easy access to APIs before in a way that a regular person can just, for instance, give a voice command to their system saying "when the weather is like this, do these things with these various services", so they don't know what they're missing. The services already control the experience, and will want to keep it that way.
- tjansen 4y ago
  > For that to happen, the AI needs to already be working. I don't think that the AI will be primarily developed to replace apps. I would rather expect Alexa or Google Assistant or Siri to start supporting arbitrary APIs. > Closed APIs will prevent them from having the ability to program their own AI to do these things. I would expect that a company like Google is able to find partners, but if not, there's always screen scraping. > but they can make more money by controlling the experience instead of just giving you (paid) access to the API. Not if people stop using the controlled experience. It just takes one competitor to offer the API.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    >I would expect that a company like Google is able to find partners, but if not, there's always screen scraping. They can shut that down with laws banning the practice. It might not stop someone working on a personal project, but it would prevent any significant company from offering any kind of paid product or service using screen-scraping. In fact, it might already be forbidden just by ToS.
    - tjansen 4y ago
      Google or Apple could change their app store policies to either require allowing it or offer APIs.

midoridensha 4y ago

>If the AI is there, and it offers a superior experience to users, the companies that don't support it will disappear. For that to happen, the AI needs to already be working. If the companies proactively prevent this from happening, then users won't have any basis for comparison. Closed APIs will prevent them from having the ability to program their own AI to do these things. >You're assuming that APIs need to be free, but that doesn't need to be the case. Companies that provide data will need to charge for that, just like record companies charge Spotify when you stream music. Sure, companies could require you to have a subscription to access the API, but they can make more money by controlling the experience instead of just giving you (paid) access to the API. >Companies that provide a service (Amazon, Uber etc) won't be happy that they lose marketing opportunities and brand recognition, Yes, this is exactly my point. >but again, if the user experience is superior to the old app ways, those companies that don't adapt will die. Users won't easily go backwards to proprietary access when they're used to (more) open access to something, but this isn't the case in this scenario: the users haven't had easy access to APIs before in a way that a regular person can just, for instance, give a voice command to their system saying "when the weather is like this, do these things with these various services", so they don't know what they're missing. The services already control the experience, and will want to keep it that way.

tjansen 4y ago
> For that to happen, the AI needs to already be working. I don't think that the AI will be primarily developed to replace apps. I would rather expect Alexa or Google Assistant or Siri to start supporting arbitrary APIs. > Closed APIs will prevent them from having the ability to program their own AI to do these things. I would expect that a company like Google is able to find partners, but if not, there's always screen scraping. > but they can make more money by controlling the experience instead of just giving you (paid) access to the API. Not if people stop using the controlled experience. It just takes one competitor to offer the API.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  >I would expect that a company like Google is able to find partners, but if not, there's always screen scraping. They can shut that down with laws banning the practice. It might not stop someone working on a personal project, but it would prevent any significant company from offering any kind of paid product or service using screen-scraping. In fact, it might already be forbidden just by ToS.
  - tjansen 4y ago
    Google or Apple could change their app store policies to either require allowing it or offer APIs.