The heart of Home is Essential's operating system, Ambient OS. Rubin didn't share much about the new software, but he did share his thoughts about how AI will become the next big operating system.

"I think it's AI. It's a slightly different AI than we see today. Today we see pattern matching and vision tricks and automation for self-driving cars and assistants like Siri or Google Assistant, but I think there's a thing after that that will coalesce into something that's more of an operating platform."

Rubin knows his own hardware company can't create the master AI platform alone, which is why his incubator Playground is so important.

"We're investing in hardware companies because we think they're essential in training AI," Rubin said. "One of our invested companies is called Light House. They make a camera for your home like a Dropcam except it uses AI to analyze everything that's happening in your house. You can ask if the kids went to school on time and it can answer."

Essential Home will allow you to play music through popular services, check the weather and more, all through a circular touchscreen.

But unlike other systems, like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, his plan is to create an OS that works with everything else. It's an ambitious goal with serious technical challenges, but Rubin knows enough about operating systems that he shouldn't be ignored.

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The man behind Android says AI is the next major operating system - CNBC