Five years ago I published a book called The Interaction Field (PublicAffairs, New York). The core idea was simple. The most valuable companies would no longer win by selling products or even running platforms. They would win by orchestrating interactions among many participants such as customers, partners, developers, services, so that value is created continuously across a system.
At the time, the closest examples were companies like Apple, Alibaba, LEGO, Tesla and Tencent. But building these systems required enormous infrastructure. Which is why something important is happening right now.
This week Anthropic introduced what people are calling the Claude Marketplace. Developers can connect tools and services. Users express an intent. Claude coordinates the tools needed to get the job done.
It may look like an app ecosystem like Apple of Android. But structurally it is something different. The AI becomes the orchestrator of an interaction field, the system. A user expresses intent. The AI interprets it. Services, tools, and capabilities are activated. Participants interact to produce an outcome.
In other words, the value is not in the model alone. The value is in the system of interactions around the model. Of course there are others who are trying to do the same thing as Claude.
Create a field where many participants interact and create value, coordinated by AI.
This is why the next phase of the AI economy will not be decided only by who has the best model. It will be decided by who builds the strongest interaction field around it. AI did not invent interaction fields. But it may finally make them inevitable. For a complete breakdown of the framework, including the three growth mechanisms that power these systems, read our guide to the Interaction Field model as a framework for platform strategy.
For a deeper look at how these dynamics reshape brand discovery, explore our analysis of how AI search engines are changing brand visibility.
To understand how these interaction fields connect to broader customer experience strategy, see our deep dive into CX as competitive advantage.
Personally, this makes the current revolution amazingly exciting. If you want to read about a summary of my book, you can find it here.
To discuss how these insights apply to your organization, get in touch with our team.