Published in Tendances technologiques

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Sophie

May 26, 2025

The Revolution of Spatial Web: Why the Latest Moves from OpenAI and Google Signal the End of Flat UX

OpenAI acquiring Jony Ive's startup for £6.5 billion and Google investing £150 million with Warby Parker is not just two tech deals—it's the signal that spatial web is truly arriving, and we are transitioning from flat interfaces to AI-boosted 3D environments.

The Spatial Web Revolution: Why OpenAI and Google's Latest Moves Signal the End of Flat UX

The tech world is buzzing with speculation about individual announcements—OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup io, announced May 21, 2025, and Google's $150 million partnership with Warby Parker to develop AI-powered smart glasses, revealed at Google I/O 2025. But viewing these as isolated developments misses the profound shift happening beneath the surface.

This isn't just about AI getting smarter or new gadgets hitting the market. We're witnessing the next fundamental evolution of the internet itself, unfolding in real time against the backdrop of a spatial computing market expected to grow from $149.59 billion in 2024 to $1,066.13 billion by 2034.

The Convergence Moment

The simultaneous emergence of these partnerships isn't coincidence—it's convergence. Two of the world's most influential tech companies are sending a coordinated signal that the spatial web has moved from speculative concept to imminent reality.

OpenAI's acquisition of io for $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal marks the company's largest acquisition ever, bringing together Jony Ive and his team of 55 engineers, designers, and researchers who previously created Apple's most iconic products. Simultaneously, Google committed up to $150 million to Warby Parker for developing smart glasses, with the first products launching "after 2025" on Google's Android XR platform.

These moves come as the broader spatial computing market experiences explosive growth. The global spatial computing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.7%, reaching over $1 trillion by 2034, while OpenAI's own valuation has reached $300 billion following a record-breaking $40 billion funding round in March 2025.

Beyond the Screen: Intelligence as Environment

The shift we're entering fundamentally reimagines where and how we encounter digital intelligence. Instead of intelligence confined to rectangular screens, we're moving toward a world where:

Intelligence becomes environmental. AI won't live in apps we open, but in spaces we inhabit. Your morning coffee routine might involve conversing with an AI that understands the spatial context of your kitchen, your schedule, and your preferences—all without touching a device.

Design transcends device boundaries. The carefully crafted interfaces we've grown accustomed to will expand beyond screen edges to become contextual layers overlaid on reality. Design becomes less about pixel-perfect layouts and more about orchestrating experiences that blend seamlessly with physical environments.

Glasses evolve from accessories to interfaces. The transformation of eyewear from fashion statement to computing platform represents more than a new product category. It's the first step toward truly ambient computing, where technology becomes as natural and unobtrusive as vision itself.

The Creative Paradigm Shift

Perhaps most significantly, this evolution transforms the nature of creative work itself. We're moving from reactive creativity—responding to user inputs and requests—toward what can only be described as world-building.

Creative professionals will increasingly design not just what users see, but entire spatial experiences. Stories won't be told through sequential screens but through immersive environments that users physically navigate. Data visualization will become environmental design, with information architectures that people walk through rather than scroll past.

This represents a fundamental expansion of the creative canvas. Designers, writers, and artists will craft experiences that exist in three dimensions, respond to physical movement, and adapt to real-world contexts in ways that flat media simply cannot.

The Spatial Media Revolution

Spatial media emerges as the natural evolution of content creation and consumption. Instead of information delivered through discrete interfaces, we're entering an era where stories, data, and interactive elements are embedded directly in our environments.

Imagine reading a news article where statistics appear as floating visualizations around you, where expert commentary is delivered by photorealistic AI avatars that occupy your space, where related content suggests itself based on your physical location and attention patterns. This isn't augmented reality as we've known it—it's reality augmented by intelligence.

The Business Implications

The implications extend far beyond technology companies. Every industry that relies on information delivery, customer experience, or spatial interaction faces fundamental questions. The numbers tell the story: healthcare adoption of spatial computing grew 30% in 2023, manufacturing companies using spatial computing saw 20% productivity gains, and military spending on spatial computing for training simulations increased by 22%.

The AR and VR market alone is projected to reach $46.6 billion in 2025, with user penetration expected to reach 54.1% globally. When over 70% of new video games are expected to incorporate spatial computing elements by 2024, and global e-commerce companies increased spatial computing investments by 32% to enhance online shopping, it's clear that businesses across sectors are recognizing the transformative potential.

The Ethical Dimension

With this transformation comes unprecedented responsibility. Designing for spatial computing means designing for presence—literally shaping how people experience and navigate reality. The ethical implications are profound.

Questions of privacy become more complex when intelligence is embedded in environments rather than contained in devices. Issues of attention and distraction take on new dimensions when digital content exists in peripheral vision. The potential for manipulation increases when technology can influence our spatial behavior and environmental awareness.

The designers and developers building these systems aren't just creating interfaces—they're architecting the conditions under which billions of people will live and work. The decisions made in this foundational moment will reverberate for decades.

Why Now Matters

For creatives, founders, and strategists still treating spatial computing as a distant possibility, the convergence moment has arrived. The infrastructure is being built by the world's most capable companies, backed by unprecedented investment. OpenAI, now valued at $300 billion and projecting $12.7 billion in revenue for 2025, represents a 243% increase from 2024, while ChatGPT serves 500 million weekly users processing over a billion requests daily.

The demand for spatial computing specialists has surged 45% as companies scramble to build expertise in AR/VR development, 3D design, and experience architecture. The window for shaping this transition is narrowing. The companies and creators who begin thinking spatially now—who start designing for presence rather than just interfaces—will define the standards and expectations for an entirely new medium.

The Work Ahead

As Jony Ive reflected on his partnership with OpenAI, he noted that his "most important work is ahead." This sentiment captures the moment we're in. The foundational technologies that will define the next phase of human-computer interaction are being built now, by people willing to imagine beyond the constraints of current paradigms.

The spatial web represents more than technological evolution—it's a cultural transition toward a more integrated relationship between digital intelligence and physical reality. How we navigate this transition, how we design for emotional and ethical integrity within these new environments, will determine whether this revolution enhances human capability or diminishes human agency.

The choice is ours, but the timeline is not. The spatial web is arriving, wearing designer frames and powered by generative intelligence. The question isn't whether this future will emerge, but who will shape it—and whether we'll create a world worth inhabiting.

The next chapter of the internet is being written now. And unlike previous chapters, this one won't be read—it will be lived.

Sources and References

Partnership and Investment Data:

Market Research and Statistics:

Technology and Industry Analysis:

The Spatial Web Revolution: Why OpenAI and Google's Latest Moves Signal the End of Flat UX

The tech world is buzzing with speculation about individual announcements—OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup io, announced May 21, 2025, and Google's $150 million partnership with Warby Parker to develop AI-powered smart glasses, revealed at Google I/O 2025. But viewing these as isolated developments misses the profound shift happening beneath the surface.

This isn't just about AI getting smarter or new gadgets hitting the market. We're witnessing the next fundamental evolution of the internet itself, unfolding in real time against the backdrop of a spatial computing market expected to grow from $149.59 billion in 2024 to $1,066.13 billion by 2034.

The Convergence Moment

The simultaneous emergence of these partnerships isn't coincidence—it's convergence. Two of the world's most influential tech companies are sending a coordinated signal that the spatial web has moved from speculative concept to imminent reality.

OpenAI's acquisition of io for $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal marks the company's largest acquisition ever, bringing together Jony Ive and his team of 55 engineers, designers, and researchers who previously created Apple's most iconic products. Simultaneously, Google committed up to $150 million to Warby Parker for developing smart glasses, with the first products launching "after 2025" on Google's Android XR platform.

These moves come as the broader spatial computing market experiences explosive growth. The global spatial computing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.7%, reaching over $1 trillion by 2034, while OpenAI's own valuation has reached $300 billion following a record-breaking $40 billion funding round in March 2025.

Beyond the Screen: Intelligence as Environment

The shift we're entering fundamentally reimagines where and how we encounter digital intelligence. Instead of intelligence confined to rectangular screens, we're moving toward a world where:

Intelligence becomes environmental. AI won't live in apps we open, but in spaces we inhabit. Your morning coffee routine might involve conversing with an AI that understands the spatial context of your kitchen, your schedule, and your preferences—all without touching a device.

Design transcends device boundaries. The carefully crafted interfaces we've grown accustomed to will expand beyond screen edges to become contextual layers overlaid on reality. Design becomes less about pixel-perfect layouts and more about orchestrating experiences that blend seamlessly with physical environments.

Glasses evolve from accessories to interfaces. The transformation of eyewear from fashion statement to computing platform represents more than a new product category. It's the first step toward truly ambient computing, where technology becomes as natural and unobtrusive as vision itself.

The Creative Paradigm Shift

Perhaps most significantly, this evolution transforms the nature of creative work itself. We're moving from reactive creativity—responding to user inputs and requests—toward what can only be described as world-building.

Creative professionals will increasingly design not just what users see, but entire spatial experiences. Stories won't be told through sequential screens but through immersive environments that users physically navigate. Data visualization will become environmental design, with information architectures that people walk through rather than scroll past.

This represents a fundamental expansion of the creative canvas. Designers, writers, and artists will craft experiences that exist in three dimensions, respond to physical movement, and adapt to real-world contexts in ways that flat media simply cannot.

The Spatial Media Revolution

Spatial media emerges as the natural evolution of content creation and consumption. Instead of information delivered through discrete interfaces, we're entering an era where stories, data, and interactive elements are embedded directly in our environments.

Imagine reading a news article where statistics appear as floating visualizations around you, where expert commentary is delivered by photorealistic AI avatars that occupy your space, where related content suggests itself based on your physical location and attention patterns. This isn't augmented reality as we've known it—it's reality augmented by intelligence.

The Business Implications

The implications extend far beyond technology companies. Every industry that relies on information delivery, customer experience, or spatial interaction faces fundamental questions. The numbers tell the story: healthcare adoption of spatial computing grew 30% in 2023, manufacturing companies using spatial computing saw 20% productivity gains, and military spending on spatial computing for training simulations increased by 22%.

The AR and VR market alone is projected to reach $46.6 billion in 2025, with user penetration expected to reach 54.1% globally. When over 70% of new video games are expected to incorporate spatial computing elements by 2024, and global e-commerce companies increased spatial computing investments by 32% to enhance online shopping, it's clear that businesses across sectors are recognizing the transformative potential.

The Ethical Dimension

With this transformation comes unprecedented responsibility. Designing for spatial computing means designing for presence—literally shaping how people experience and navigate reality. The ethical implications are profound.

Questions of privacy become more complex when intelligence is embedded in environments rather than contained in devices. Issues of attention and distraction take on new dimensions when digital content exists in peripheral vision. The potential for manipulation increases when technology can influence our spatial behavior and environmental awareness.

The designers and developers building these systems aren't just creating interfaces—they're architecting the conditions under which billions of people will live and work. The decisions made in this foundational moment will reverberate for decades.

Why Now Matters

For creatives, founders, and strategists still treating spatial computing as a distant possibility, the convergence moment has arrived. The infrastructure is being built by the world's most capable companies, backed by unprecedented investment. OpenAI, now valued at $300 billion and projecting $12.7 billion in revenue for 2025, represents a 243% increase from 2024, while ChatGPT serves 500 million weekly users processing over a billion requests daily.

The demand for spatial computing specialists has surged 45% as companies scramble to build expertise in AR/VR development, 3D design, and experience architecture. The window for shaping this transition is narrowing. The companies and creators who begin thinking spatially now—who start designing for presence rather than just interfaces—will define the standards and expectations for an entirely new medium.

The Work Ahead

As Jony Ive reflected on his partnership with OpenAI, he noted that his "most important work is ahead." This sentiment captures the moment we're in. The foundational technologies that will define the next phase of human-computer interaction are being built now, by people willing to imagine beyond the constraints of current paradigms.

The spatial web represents more than technological evolution—it's a cultural transition toward a more integrated relationship between digital intelligence and physical reality. How we navigate this transition, how we design for emotional and ethical integrity within these new environments, will determine whether this revolution enhances human capability or diminishes human agency.

The choice is ours, but the timeline is not. The spatial web is arriving, wearing designer frames and powered by generative intelligence. The question isn't whether this future will emerge, but who will shape it—and whether we'll create a world worth inhabiting.

The next chapter of the internet is being written now. And unlike previous chapters, this one won't be read—it will be lived.

Sources and References

Partnership and Investment Data:

Market Research and Statistics:

Technology and Industry Analysis:

The Spatial Web Revolution: Why OpenAI and Google's Latest Moves Signal the End of Flat UX

The tech world is buzzing with speculation about individual announcements—OpenAI's $6.5 billion acquisition of iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup io, announced May 21, 2025, and Google's $150 million partnership with Warby Parker to develop AI-powered smart glasses, revealed at Google I/O 2025. But viewing these as isolated developments misses the profound shift happening beneath the surface.

This isn't just about AI getting smarter or new gadgets hitting the market. We're witnessing the next fundamental evolution of the internet itself, unfolding in real time against the backdrop of a spatial computing market expected to grow from $149.59 billion in 2024 to $1,066.13 billion by 2034.

The Convergence Moment

The simultaneous emergence of these partnerships isn't coincidence—it's convergence. Two of the world's most influential tech companies are sending a coordinated signal that the spatial web has moved from speculative concept to imminent reality.

OpenAI's acquisition of io for $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal marks the company's largest acquisition ever, bringing together Jony Ive and his team of 55 engineers, designers, and researchers who previously created Apple's most iconic products. Simultaneously, Google committed up to $150 million to Warby Parker for developing smart glasses, with the first products launching "after 2025" on Google's Android XR platform.

These moves come as the broader spatial computing market experiences explosive growth. The global spatial computing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.7%, reaching over $1 trillion by 2034, while OpenAI's own valuation has reached $300 billion following a record-breaking $40 billion funding round in March 2025.

Beyond the Screen: Intelligence as Environment

The shift we're entering fundamentally reimagines where and how we encounter digital intelligence. Instead of intelligence confined to rectangular screens, we're moving toward a world where:

Intelligence becomes environmental. AI won't live in apps we open, but in spaces we inhabit. Your morning coffee routine might involve conversing with an AI that understands the spatial context of your kitchen, your schedule, and your preferences—all without touching a device.

Design transcends device boundaries. The carefully crafted interfaces we've grown accustomed to will expand beyond screen edges to become contextual layers overlaid on reality. Design becomes less about pixel-perfect layouts and more about orchestrating experiences that blend seamlessly with physical environments.

Glasses evolve from accessories to interfaces. The transformation of eyewear from fashion statement to computing platform represents more than a new product category. It's the first step toward truly ambient computing, where technology becomes as natural and unobtrusive as vision itself.

The Creative Paradigm Shift

Perhaps most significantly, this evolution transforms the nature of creative work itself. We're moving from reactive creativity—responding to user inputs and requests—toward what can only be described as world-building.

Creative professionals will increasingly design not just what users see, but entire spatial experiences. Stories won't be told through sequential screens but through immersive environments that users physically navigate. Data visualization will become environmental design, with information architectures that people walk through rather than scroll past.

This represents a fundamental expansion of the creative canvas. Designers, writers, and artists will craft experiences that exist in three dimensions, respond to physical movement, and adapt to real-world contexts in ways that flat media simply cannot.

The Spatial Media Revolution

Spatial media emerges as the natural evolution of content creation and consumption. Instead of information delivered through discrete interfaces, we're entering an era where stories, data, and interactive elements are embedded directly in our environments.

Imagine reading a news article where statistics appear as floating visualizations around you, where expert commentary is delivered by photorealistic AI avatars that occupy your space, where related content suggests itself based on your physical location and attention patterns. This isn't augmented reality as we've known it—it's reality augmented by intelligence.

The Business Implications

The implications extend far beyond technology companies. Every industry that relies on information delivery, customer experience, or spatial interaction faces fundamental questions. The numbers tell the story: healthcare adoption of spatial computing grew 30% in 2023, manufacturing companies using spatial computing saw 20% productivity gains, and military spending on spatial computing for training simulations increased by 22%.

The AR and VR market alone is projected to reach $46.6 billion in 2025, with user penetration expected to reach 54.1% globally. When over 70% of new video games are expected to incorporate spatial computing elements by 2024, and global e-commerce companies increased spatial computing investments by 32% to enhance online shopping, it's clear that businesses across sectors are recognizing the transformative potential.

The Ethical Dimension

With this transformation comes unprecedented responsibility. Designing for spatial computing means designing for presence—literally shaping how people experience and navigate reality. The ethical implications are profound.

Questions of privacy become more complex when intelligence is embedded in environments rather than contained in devices. Issues of attention and distraction take on new dimensions when digital content exists in peripheral vision. The potential for manipulation increases when technology can influence our spatial behavior and environmental awareness.

The designers and developers building these systems aren't just creating interfaces—they're architecting the conditions under which billions of people will live and work. The decisions made in this foundational moment will reverberate for decades.

Why Now Matters

For creatives, founders, and strategists still treating spatial computing as a distant possibility, the convergence moment has arrived. The infrastructure is being built by the world's most capable companies, backed by unprecedented investment. OpenAI, now valued at $300 billion and projecting $12.7 billion in revenue for 2025, represents a 243% increase from 2024, while ChatGPT serves 500 million weekly users processing over a billion requests daily.

The demand for spatial computing specialists has surged 45% as companies scramble to build expertise in AR/VR development, 3D design, and experience architecture. The window for shaping this transition is narrowing. The companies and creators who begin thinking spatially now—who start designing for presence rather than just interfaces—will define the standards and expectations for an entirely new medium.

The Work Ahead

As Jony Ive reflected on his partnership with OpenAI, he noted that his "most important work is ahead." This sentiment captures the moment we're in. The foundational technologies that will define the next phase of human-computer interaction are being built now, by people willing to imagine beyond the constraints of current paradigms.

The spatial web represents more than technological evolution—it's a cultural transition toward a more integrated relationship between digital intelligence and physical reality. How we navigate this transition, how we design for emotional and ethical integrity within these new environments, will determine whether this revolution enhances human capability or diminishes human agency.

The choice is ours, but the timeline is not. The spatial web is arriving, wearing designer frames and powered by generative intelligence. The question isn't whether this future will emerge, but who will shape it—and whether we'll create a world worth inhabiting.

The next chapter of the internet is being written now. And unlike previous chapters, this one won't be read—it will be lived.

Sources and References

Partnership and Investment Data:

Market Research and Statistics:

Technology and Industry Analysis:

Continue Reading

Sophie ·

in Technologie, Innovation, Commerce, Paiements numériques, Réalité augmentée (RA)

· Apr 8, 2022

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in Technologie, Innovation, Commerce, Paiements numériques, Réalité augmentée (RA)

· Apr 8, 2022

Beyond smartphones: How AR glasses with voice payment technology are shaping the future of commerce

Beyond smartphones: How AR glasses with voice payment technology are shaping the future of commerce

Sophie ·

in Technologie, Innovation, Commerce, Paiements numériques, Réalité augmentée (RA)

· Apr 8, 2022

Beyond smartphones: How AR glasses with voice payment technology are shaping the future of commerce

Beyond smartphones: How AR glasses with voice payment technology are shaping the future of commerce