AI's Real Disruption Is the Invisible World of Custom Software, Not Photoshop
bennash · x · 2026-10-12
bennash pushes back on two hot takes—"software is dead" and "enterprises will never trust small unknown teams"—arguing both misread how the industry actually works.
Key points:
- AI dev tools recreating Photoshop or Office clones is genuinely disruptive, but the real action is elsewhere: the sprawling, invisible universe of custom software—internal tools, vertical apps, enterprise integrations, portals, workflow automation—long built by indie devs and small agencies nobody outside the industry has heard of.
- Enterprises have trusted these developers for decades; they care whether software works, integrates, meets security needs, and is maintainable—not whether the author is famous.
- Falling dev costs expand the addressable market: a business that wouldn't pay $200k for custom software may happily pay $20k, making whole categories viable for the first time.
- Trade-off: lower barriers, more competition, and shrinking value of just writing code—developers should shift toward architecture, UX, and business logic.
Conclusion: not the death of an industry, but an expansion of its market.
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