Jevons paradox in software: cheaper AI means more demand for dev teams, not less
teodorio · x · 2026-10-27
A thread explains the Jevons paradox: as software gets cheaper to build, total demand rises. Compilers, open source, cloud, and Stack Overflow each made developers far more productive, yet the industry kept hiring more devs — problems that were too expensive to solve became worth solving. If AI cuts feature costs tenfold, companies that never had software teams will want one. The poster confirms first-hand: clients from construction and non-digitized industries are now requesting data platforms, agentic analytics, and internal automation teams.
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