AI, Pac-Man effect: Will It Devour All Software to Become One Entity?

The great equalizer in tech that can turn every user into a developer — will it diversify power? Will this voracious appetite for consuming software lead to a new gatekeeper?

In the not-so-distant past, crafting software was akin to embarking on a medieval quest. Programmers, armed with nothing but their wits and a keyboard, would venture into the dark forests of code, battling bugs and dragons of complexity with every line they wrote.

The journey was arduous, but the reward was golden: a chance to join the ranks of big tech companies, where your salary wasn’t just a number but a badge of honor, reflecting the blood, sweat, and code you poured into your work

Having great developers on your team was the secret weapon. These coding knights could forge software solutions that were not just functional but revolutionary, setting the company apart in a crowded marketplace.

This exclusivity didn’t just make them powerful; it made them legends in the tech industries, software wasn’t just a product; it was a statement of superiority, a digital moat around their castle, keeping competitors at bay. Companies like Google, who emerged not just as a search engine but as the gatekeeper of the internet’s vast knowledge. Meanwhile, Apple, with its macOS and iOS, crafted an ecosystem so exclusive and seamless that it turned users into loyalists.

Over in the world of e-commerce, Amazon wasn’t just selling books; it was pioneering the future of retail. And let’s not forget IBM, whose mainframes and later, Watson, symbolized the pinnacle of enterprise computing power.

From the 90s to now ? these giants, along with others like Cisco in networking, Adobe in creative software, and Salesforce in CRM, didn’t just create products; they defined entire categories.

Their dominance was built on the backs of these elite developer teams, whose code was the modern equivalent of the Philosopher’s Stone, turning ordinary business challenges into gold through innovation and exclusivity.

In December 2022, the ‘Big Bang’ of AI occurred in the public’s mind when OpenAI’s ChatGPT sparked an explosion of interest in AI and generative technologies across the internet. In the following months, numerous blogs and YouTube channels emerged, dedicated solely to discussing AI.

Billions of dollars were invested in the field, and Google, struggling to keep pace, faced the fear of being overtaken. Public interest has remained strong, with people eagerly watching as big tech companies battle for dominance in the AI space, like spectators at a grand circus.

On June 17, 2023, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke stated that Copilot would write 80% of code ‘sooner rather than later.’ At that time, we thought developers were becoming more like ‘overseers’ of code factories where AI does the heavy lifting.

Today, in August 2024, while sitting in a Starbucks and sipping coffee, a kid named Riley Brown, without any background in web development, has built 3 different CRMs just by talking to his computer. It might sound futuristic, but it’s happening right now on Twitter.

To put this in perspective, building a platform like Twitter used to take approximately 6–12 months and require 20–30 developers. The costs were staggering, often exceeding $500,000. Now, with AI tools, if you find there’s no app to solve your problem, with zero programming knowledge, you have the capability to create one yourself in a very short period of time — sometimes in just a single day.

Mckay Wrigley created AI photo generator app with Cursor in 7 minutes !

@CodeHagen created a dashboard for Propdock in 1.5 hours, where you can click on any commercial property in Denmark to calculate the entire property, analyze the data, and make your own inputs.

It might not be 100% operational or polished, but it’s undeniable that these tools are improving every day, especially as more people jump on board.

You might ask, how does everyone jumping on board significantly accelerate improvement? The answer lies in the equation: Collective Intelligence multiplied by Viral Improvement equals a diversity of applications that lead to a richer feedback loop and even contribute to open-source AI models.

With everyone from artists to zoologists using these tools, there’s a cross-pollination of ideas from different fields into software development, which speeds up the evolution of AI tools. This makes them more capable, intuitive, and aligned with a vast array of human needs. It’s not just about making coding accessible; it’s about accelerating innovation to a pace where today’s technology might seem rudimentary by next month — or even next week, we might code with our thought !

In this scenario, AI acts as a voracious Pac-Man, devouring the barriers to entry that once protected the technological strongholds of big tech companies.

A democratization that is lead to an explosion of new players, each capable of chipping away at the dominance of established giants.

Digital nomad pioneers like Pieter Levels are redefining what’s possible in the world of SaaS, achieving revenue numbers exceeding $100K monthly with the web app www.photoai.com.

This kind of number, once attainable only by venture-backed companies with multimillion-dollar investments and large teams of developers, is being accomplished by Pieter on his own, working from a café somewhere in the world. I encourage you to watch the conversation he had with Lex Fridman.

Meanwhile, these same giants companies aren’t passive. They’re adapting by reinventing themselves to maintain their dominance :

Integrating AI: Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are not just using AI for product development but are also providing AI services (like AWS’s SageMaker, Google’s AutoML, etc.) which could become new revenue streams and lock-in mechanisms.

Acquisitions: They might acquire promising startups to absorb innovative AI technologies or talent, which could either stifle competition or accelerate innovation depending on how these acquisitions are managed.

Regulation and Lobbying: Big tech might influence AI regulation in ways that could raise barriers to entry again, albeit in a different form.

While some fear job losses, the more likely scenario might be job transformation. Developers might shift from writing code to managing AI systems

Should senior developers really be managing AI systems?

Won’t the appetite for bigger changes tickle their egos?

Watching all those kids building six-figure businesses while wearing pajamas and sipping chai tea in front of a pool somewhere in Thailand?

For example, let say thousands of loyal users of a specific app like Airbnb are unsatisfied with the service provided, in some countries like Brazil, a group of individuals ( with senior developers) with enough public attention could request access to Airbnb’s data, such as interactions between tenants and hosts within Brazilian territory, (under future regulations that may need to be implemented.)

Then, boom, they could create their own, better version of Airbnb for themselves. Perhaps this could happen on a city level instead of a national one. Why not? In this way, we could finally talk about capitalism without having a single powerful entity controlling the entire market.

Is that the key to our future with easy-to-ship products?

Achieving real capitalism? Humm love the idea but maybe not…

While many solo entrepreneurs and small companies are battling for a slice of the market, I think there’s a hidden player quietly gathering data behind the scenes. This shadowy figure aims to develop the “Pac-Man” of software

An all-encompassing application so efficient and powerful that it could seamlessly integrate all our existing apps into a single, unified entity.

Just as our smartphones have replaced so many devices — like cameras, maps, Walkmans, camcorders, handheld gaming consoles, e-readers, GPS units, calculators, alarm clocks, and flashlights — this software could potentially consolidate a vast array of tools and functions into one.

Imagine a world where your CRM, project management tools, communication platforms, and even entertainment apps are absorbed into a singular, AI-driven ecosystem. This “super app” would not just optimize workflows but might redefine how we interact with technology altogether.

The evidence is already around us, and doesn’t need to achieve AGI, Super apps like WeChat in China have shown how a single platform can dominate users’ digital lives, integrating messaging, payments, social media, and more into one application.

Big Tech, with its vast resources and deep data reserves, is quietly laying the groundwork for such a platform. Companies like Microsoft and Google are not only integrating AI into their services but also creating interconnected ecosystems that suggest a move toward this kind of consolidation.

For instance, Microsoft’s strategy of integrating AI into its Office Suite, Teams, and Azure cloud platform hints at a future where all business tools are not just connected but fused into one seamless experience.

This vision isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about control. The power to gather, analyze, and act on vast amounts of data in real time could give this “Pac-Man” software an unprecedented level of influence over how we work, communicate, and even think.

It’s a race to build the ultimate digital Swiss Army knife, and the winner could very well shape the future of technology — and perhaps capitalism itself — in ways we can only begin to imagine.

Will this new era of innovation lead to a more equitable distribution of power, or will it merely replace one set of gatekeepers with another?

The answer may well determine whether the digital age fulfills its promise of democratization or solidifies a new kind of digital aristocracy.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has shared some optimistic views about the potential of AI to create a future of abundance.

He believes that AI could lead to a world where material scarcity is significantly reduced, and people have access to more resources and opportunities than ever before.

It sounds very promising!

However, deep down, I am reminded of the old French proverb: ‘Promises are only binding on those who believe in them.’

If you ask me, I think decentralization of power should be the main focus of our world !

Share your thought with me it in the comments below or on Twitter.