Comment by csomar

14 hours ago

It's simple: AI can't really write software. AI is good in generating garbage code averaged from millions of repos.

Here is an example of software that can scale with a single person assuming AI can write software: a web-based alternative to Photoshop built on wasm. Figma is analogous to that and it's worth $10Bn.

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csomar

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playorizaya  12 hours ago

The world runs on garbage code from millions of repos.

I agree with you that it doesn't replace a person, but it certainly makes code a lot cheaper.

If code is cheaper than ever, and the earning potential is the same. Why aren't investors all over it?

And I'll 1-up your Photoshop example with https://photopea.com

Made by 1 person, I use it literally every day.

  • firebones  8 hours ago

    Assume for a moment that the code of cost is zero, and the barrier to entry for coding is gone. Furthermore, let's say you don't want to do anything innovative, you just want to clone, so a huge part of your product management burden goes away.

    The playing field is now completely level with any and all comers who want to attack Adobe. You now not only have one huge competitor, but the potential for hundreds of other competitors.

    How are you going to convince someone that your execution is the one that's going to displace Adobe and steal market share? Why would I invest in your variant rather than one of your competitors?

    The logical conclusion of this is that even if Adobe released its source and the theoretical price drops to zero, you're finding yourself at best in the same situation as Linux distro companies in 1999.

    Assuming perfect LLM code generation (a huge assumption that is nowhere close to reality), a company built on this is going to replay the same open source dynamics, with additional steps/expense.