What The Fudge for March 22, 2026: The Edge of Intelligence
Discussing AI agents, context engineering, and the convergence of robotics and local compute
Twice in a row! Here we go!
Apple Transcription (processed by Google Gemini)
Eventually, I’ll be using a local model to create this but for now I’m trying a Google Gem to chunk up the 9 minutes into sections.
🎙️ Evolution of the Setup
All right, it is time for the what the fudge for March 22nd. And I’ve decided that I’m going to probably build out a little bit more of a mobile solution. I will probably get a dedicated microphone or something to that effect, something that I could use with the iPhone. I don’t know that I’m going to have a laptop with me all the time while I’m traveling.
But the whole idea is to get this in and get it done with the minimal of equipment required, something that would fit into a backpack.
📍 Local Dispatch: All Things AI
It’s getting late because I’m going to be attending the All Things AI event here in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. I’m really excited to see folks; I remember last year it was a really great event, and so I’m fortunate to join all of my peers from last year, as well as some folks from the NC Tech organization.
🤖 From Model Focus to Context Engineering
AI, the notion of agents and coding has really been a large part of the news. I think of it as one of the elements around engineering an outcome is the focus on the harness.
- The Shift: About a year ago, everything’s going to be model, model, model, and now what you’re looking for is people are doing things with said models.
- Context Engineering: Where a year and a half ago, you probably would have heard prompt engineering, now you’re hearing more about context engineering.
- The Goal: It is the meta or higher level abstraction of getting away from just peer prompt engineering and trying to get folks to pull together who is the person that’s asking for what they want, what’s their role, and what’s the goal.
🛰️ The Convergence: Robotics and Remote Sensing
There’s going to be this rapid progression of models. There’s going to be probably an increase in the interest of putting models closer towards devices, closest towards the edges of the network.
- Autonomous Systems: This ties into what I believe will be this growth in remote sensing, telemetry, robotics, far more autonomous systems that are taking inputs in from other places and putting that together and synthesizing that information.
- Specialized Players: Some of this is most likely going to be very, very large companies like Amazon, but I think what might be interesting is smaller players doing things in very niche areas.
🏥 Dystopia vs. Progress
Markets are a little interesting right now in the sense that we live in “interesting times.” I think of the investments right now as a combination of AI, automation, and robotization.
“Does the cliche of the Skynet moment get ever closer because of the things we’re doing? Or is it that it’s only in the news or in the coverage when it is dystopian?”
I think an important element here is to also look at the amazing progressions:
- Robotic Surgery: Applying these advances to things like assisted robotic surgery.
- Problem Solving: Bringing these disciplines together and solving some of the most challenging problems because robots don’t take days off.
- Accessibility: Much like the early introduction of 3D printing or the price drop in flat panel displays, I expect a race to lower costs in robotization.
📱 The “Gmail Moment” for Personal AI
What happens when there is one breakout? Someone on the product engineering side really figures this stuff out.
- The Gemini Factor: Imagine what might happen if the same way we think of email and what Gmail did for it—what if Google’s personal AI assistant in Gemini was just good enough to really catch hold?
- Local and Private: Imagine that, not necessarily having to go all the way over the internet to another data center. Imagine a lot of that running locally on the device itself. Truly private, secure compute on a device.
- Embedded AI: Whether it’s Apple Intelligence or Google’s Pixel line, it’ll be interesting to see how the edge of the network becomes increasingly AI without having to necessarily rely on a larger network of generalized infrastructure.
What if the AI is literally baked into the phone, into the device, into the robot?
🏁 Wrapping Up
I’m going to call it a wrap and plan to get a more mobile version of this podcast recording setup. Maybe in a few weeks, but I’m gonna try to keep the podcast to Sundays.
Again, this was what the fudge for Sunday, March 22nd, 2026. Take care.
