Mary Meeker Returns with AI and Breezes Past AIoT

The dumbest thing I could possibly do is pick a fight with Mary Meeker. She has access to people, and a team of interns that I would love to have. She is the E.F. Hutton of the Internet – “When she talks, people listen,” and it is well deserved. She provides insight and stays away from the trendy words that fade overtime and defines trends in a way that will endure.

My problem is not what she says, it has to do with the fact that I wanted more. In her 340-page 2025 Artificial Intelligence report, Meeker dedicates only eight pages to what I would call AIoT.

Mind you, in those eight pages there is tremendous insight.

She writes that, “AI momentum and monetization in our physical world, is even more head turning. We are entering an era where intelligence is not just embedded in digital applications, but also in vehicles, machines, and defense systems.”

She then looks at autonomous vehicles and uses Applied Intuition as an example. The trend she points out, (and adding a little interpretation of my own) is that intelligence will be like software packages and updated like firmware into the embedded devices.

Returning to general trends, she writes, “We are seeing the early architecture of AI-native infrastructure for the physical world.”

My interpretation is more AI-native than intelligence in the device, edge, and cloud, and that true autonomy will exist closer to or in the devices themselves. Mary then point out two examples, Anduril for military use and Carbon Robotics for agriculture.

She concludes by saying, “We believe that these are examples of a broader shift: a world where AI turns capital assets into software endpoints. Intelligence, once confined to screens and dashboards, becomes kinetic.