India, June 22 -- Last month, a curious partnership in the Valley made me wonder on the future of smart devices and the way we access our digital universe. In a rather whimsical blog post, OpenAI announced the acquisition of Jony Ive's studio startup io for $6.5 billion. "We have the opportunity to completely reimagine what it means to use a computer," said Altman, adding that despite unprecedented capability and new technologies like AI, the digital experience is being shaped by traditional products and interfaces. A new technology like AI, he explained, requires a complete rethink of tools through which we interact with the digital universe.

This acquisition would've become yet another corporate announcement, except for the timing of i...