---
id: "claim-sensor-ubiquity"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["§ The Everything Engine Needs Your Data"]
tags: ["hardware", "general-purpose-technology"]
related: ["concept-advanced-sensors", "concept-large-action-models", "quote-everything-engine"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
speakers: ["Amy Webb"]
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-foci-73-living-intelligence"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/01/why-living-intelligence-is-the-next-big-thing"
sourceTitle: "Why “Living Intelligence” Is the Next Big Thing"
---
# Sensors are the next general-purpose technology

**Claim (confidence: high · testable):** Sensors — not just AI algorithms — are the next general-purpose technology. Because AI is an *"everything engine"* that requires massive amounts of data to function (see [[quote-everything-engine]]), the network of interconnected devices and [[concept-advanced-sensors|advanced sensors]] that facilitate this data exchange is foundational and enables [[concept-large-action-models|Large Action Models]].

Webb argues many leaders overlook this because sensor integration — like the **dozen sensors in a standard iPhone** — has become *invisible* to the end user.

> *Enrichment assessment:* **Partially supported, but speculative.** Multiple sources describe sensors as a foundational layer for Living Intelligence and stress that AI needs continuous real-world data. However, none of the cited evidence establishes sensors as a general-purpose technology in the strict economic-history sense. Sensors are indispensable infrastructure; "next GPT" is a prediction, not a demonstrated consensus.