The way we use computers
is changing.
IBM 709 mainframe, 1958
Tufts Computer User Group, 1975
Apple II, 1977
Netscape Navigator 1.0, 1994
iPhone, 2007
ChatGPT, November 2022
In the beginning, there were mainframes—colossal machines, accessible only to experts at the largest institutions. But through the efforts of visionaries and communities like the Homebrew Computer Club, the computer became personal. Over two decades, we connected all the computers to the internet, and computing became social.
Today, thanks to everything we've created on the internet, computers are learning to talk. But are you really talking to your own computer? No—it's an anonymous server, operated by a large institution in some data center far, far away.
Nvidia Blackwell, 2024
IBM 709 mainframe, 1958
Servers are like the mainframes of the mid-1900s. They are powerful and enable new computing capabilities, but they aren't yours. You can't set them up how you like, and they don't change with you over time.
The main reason general consumers don't take advantage of server computing for themselves is because it is hard to operate.
Macintosh Desktop (1984)
NeXTstep (1992)
Windows 7 (2009)
Just as the graphical user interface made personal workstations accessible to non-experts, conversational AI makes server computing accessible to the general public.
This means that more people will have their own web services. More people will have access to powerful hardware and the best internet connections on Earth, paying just for the time they use. Musicians will create more tools for themselves to explore sounds, financial analysts will be able to run more comprehensive simulations, kids will be able to generate their own learning curriculum.
Conversational AI is more than just a means to get information. It's a new means to co-operate a computer.
It's time for the computer
to change.
ζῷον (zoion)“living being”
Introducing Zo—the
autonomous
personal computer.
© 2025 Substrate Labs Inc. Brooklyn, NY USA@zo_computer