Amazon is betting big on ambient computing, according to Panos Panay, the company’s SVP of Devices, Alexa & Leo. He envisions a future where AI devices take care of your daily tasks without the need to use apps, much like a personal butler.

“A lot of times, what you’re doing right now — what we all do right now — is we have to remember what we’re asking our tool to do for us,” Panay explained. “I think where we’re headed is a world [that] starts with ambient devices.”

These devices, like the new Bee devices, are designed to work quietly in the background, using sensors and AI to help you figure out what needs to be done, instead of the other way around, where you’re telling the device what you need to do. These gadgets can passively record audio and take notes about your day, finding the to-dos, reminders, and insights you may later need to refer back to. However, to balance the need to be useful with user privacy, Bee’s devices don’t actually store the raw audio from your conversations; they process the audio in real time and then delete it when done. Transcripts of conversations are encrypted using keys that your device creates and controls, ensuring no one else, including Amazon employees, can access those files unless you intentionally share them.

The executive envisions a future where the idea of interacting with apps becomes less important, as more tasks are handled via AI. He believes a new crop of devices will emerge that use sensors to understand users better, and to bring intelligence to the world around you. This doesn’t necessarily mean the smartphone itself won’t continue to be an important personal computing device, but rather that a new generation of devices will emerge to handle daily tasks.