Carl Pei’s $200M bet: Nothing wants to build its own AI-first operating system

Nothing

Nothing CEO Carl Pei has revealed his most ambitious plan yet: creating a brand-new operating system designed for an AI-driven future. The announcement came as the company confirmed a fresh $200 million funding round, valuing Nothing at $1.3 billion.

The funds, Pei said in a community post, will go toward scaling distribution and fast-tracking the innovation roadmap. At the centre of that roadmap is a vision for an AI-native OS — one that goes far beyond the traditional app-based smartphone model.

A billion operating systems for a billion people

Pei argues that the operating systems we use today are too generic. His pitch: an OS that is hyper-personalised, proactive, and able to execute tasks via intelligent agents. Rather than swiping through apps, users would interact with a system that knows their preferences and context, surfacing suggestions naturally and handling background tasks seamlessly.

“Unlike today’s one-size-fits-all solution, a billion different operating systems will be rendered for a billion different people,” Pei said.

Beyond the phone

The project starts with smartphones, audio products, and smartwatches — the core of Nothing’s hardware lineup. But the long-term vision is much broader. Pei sees the OS eventually extending to smart glasses, humanoid robots, EVs, and more. In other words, a transversal platform spanning everything from personal devices to future tech.

The now and the next

For now, Nothing continues to rely on Android, with an Android 16 update for its phones due soon. But the company clearly wants to chart its own course, positioning itself as one of the first challengers to Apple and Google in rethinking what an operating system can be in the AI era.