One Tech Founder’s Quest To Make Technology Disappear

PARIS — Even before our first handshake, it's clear that Rand Hindi, with his ripped jeans and grey scoop-neck T-shirt, oozes coolness. And when it comes to his crazy ambition, the 30-year-old could not be more straightforward. "Our goal is to make technologies disappear in the long run," he says.



Hindi has an obsessive fear that we'll become slaves to the billions of connected objects being used across the planet, from the obvious smartphones and computers to watches, cars, clothes, refrigerators and blood pressure monitors.

"We're going to be hassled by these objects that will constantly be asking for confirmations or sending us information," he says. "The years to come will be the worst in history in terms of quality of life."



This young man is neither a doomsayer nor a guru. A mathematics, computing and big data enthusiast, Hindi studied biocomputing at University College London and now lives in Paris, where he has gathered a team specializing in artificial intelligence.

Snips, the startup that Hindi founded in 2012 — whose motto is "We make technology disappear" — will launch its first general use product on Aug. 31, a free smartphone interface users can download. It's supposed to make accessing a service on our cellphones 10 times faster.

"It's going to be a smart gateway to all your apps. We're working on the sensibility of objects towards the user, what we call context awareness," he says before launching into a lecture on the subject. "The device will be able to anticipate certain user actions — for example, by booking a means of transport before an appointment that's been...