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NDC Conferences

Building an AI-Powered Personal Companion Mobile App - Gerald Versluis - NDC Copenhagen 2026

Published 2026-07-07 · Duration 58:54

Summary

The talk demonstrates how to integrate advanced AI functionalities into cross-platform mobile applications using .NET MAUI. The session emphasizes building robust, context-aware companion apps by leveraging abstraction layers and standardized APIs (like the Essentials API). Key architectural patterns include supporting multimodal input (voice, image), utilizing cloud services like Azure AI Foundry for LLMs, and implementing local model support via Onyx for sensitive data scenarios.

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Key takeaways

  1. AI Integration is Cross-Platform 17:22

    The implementation of AI features can be abstracted across platforms (iOS, Android, Windows) using .NET MAUI's abstraction layer, ensuring a consistent user experience while allowing platform-specific native behavior.

  2. Context Awareness and Memory 23:50

    AI applications can be significantly enhanced by incorporating context from various sources—including location (geolocation), calendar data, biometrics, and conversation history (memory)—to provide highly personalized user experiences.

  3. Multimodal Input Handling 30:05

    The system supports multiple input types beyond text, including voice recording and image analysis. This requires transforming raw data (audio/image) into a format consumable by Large Language Models (LLMs), such as using speech-to-text transcription.

  4. Model Agnosticism via Interfaces 40:05

    By relying on interfaces (e.g., `I ChatClient`), developers can easily swap out concrete AI implementations—such as those from Microsoft Foundry, OpenAI, or local models like Apple Intelligence/Onyx—without changing core application logic.

Technical details

  • Cross-Platform Framework 1204s

    .NET MAUI is used for building cross-platform apps (iOS, Android, Windows) based on C# and .NET. It provides abstraction layers for UI controls and device APIs.

  • AI Service Abstraction 2405s

    The `Microsoft Extensions AI` library provides common abstractions (like the chat client) that allow developers to manage different LLM providers (e.g., OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, local models) through a unified interface.

  • Core APIs 2605s

    The 'Essentials' API provides common non-UI functionalities across platforms (e.g., `Geolocation`, `MediaPicker`, `Battery`), which are crucial for gathering context data.

  • Implementation Flow 3050s

    The sample app demonstrates a flow: Capture input (text, voice, image) -> Gather Context (location/calendar) -> Initialize `I ChatClient` with credentials and system prompt -> Send request to LLM endpoint for analysis.

Mentioned resources

  • Azure AI Foundry (Cloud Platform/AI Service)
  • .NET MAUI Essentials API (Framework Library)
  • Microsoft Extensions AI (Library/SDK)
  • Onyx Runtime (Local Model Execution Engine)

Channel & topics

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