According to Ray Kurzweil, Google's director of engineering, the world will change in a number of ways, and the one most relevant to us here at WebmasterWorld is "personal assistant engines."
We've certainly seen strides in this with Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana, and i see every reason for those to improve significantly, and others to emerge. Google's knowledge engine is a visual example that just requires a better HMI (human machine interface).
I can see meta-type assistants being developed by other business, similar to the way that meta search used to work, and how Yahoo is allowed to tweak Bing's data. The difference is the delivery of the data. Instead of just the desktop, it's now on mobile, and in our pockets and on wearables.
What I’m working on is creating a search engine that understands the meaning of these billion of documents. It will be more like a human assistant that you can talk things over with, that you can express complicated, even personal concerns to. Google: Personal Assistant Engines [genius.com]
