Essay: task-executing AI assistants are the wedge in the race to agent-as-a-platform
SIGKITTEN · x · 2026-09-20
PM-turned-builder Manosai publishes a longform essay, "On The Future of Software, Part 2: When Software Recedes," arguing software is bifurcating in the AI era.
- Personal assistants that can execute tasks are becoming the wedge in the race to agent-as-a-platform
- The new computing paradigm splits into two layers: a chosen layer for what still needs scarce human attention (expert tools, social connection, entertainment), and an invisible layer for everything delegable to agents with consolidated interfaces
- The essay traces five inflection points: ChatGPT, vibe coding and AI IDEs, models learning to think, the harness meeting the model, and the second constraint starting to break
- It concludes with four consequences: how software gets built, what software survives, how capital reorganizes, and the new market equilibrium
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