This couldn't be more true. Companies will be driven by AI harnesses (as defined by this article) that automate decision-making and prioritization. In the medium term, may the company with the best harness win.
In the longer term, the downstream impact is massive commoditization of software and invalidation of most existing moats. Data moats are gone if you can simulate the data with AI. Even platform effects can be sidestepped if AI replaces one side of the platform.
In addition, while right now agile startups have the advantage, at some point the balance will start tilting towards whoever has the most tokens (OR perhaps durable moats will trump even near-infinite tokens; we will have to see). Startups have a limited time window to have whatever impact in the world they are hoping to have, or to build a moat that won't be disrupted by AI, but there are few of them left in the world.
The upside is that when there is a lot of commoditization, then the consumer benefits.
show comments
jmathai
I agree with this. I’ve seen it in my workplace but even more profoundly in my personal endeavors where I have more freedom to explore.
My current project is created by one-shot prompts. That’s not some kind of parlor trick. It is the framework for creating and evolving the product.
Many people laugh it off as “unserious”. But as I said, I see this happening in my place of work where people are paid lots of money.
> Harnesses go from internal tooling you’d happily buy to something you’d no more outsource than your product-eng org or your GTM team.
I couldn't have said this better myself. If you're not owning your harness, and you're not owning your model, then that leaves very little moat for any AI native company.
asdfman123
> Harnesses orchestrate individuals
I feel this is probably coming and perhaps inevitable, but I fear for the poor employees this sort of thing will be tried out on first.
show comments
hollowturtle
Who ever wrote this it seems it never built any serious software. Software factories don’t exist and you will put yourself in a corner in a dangerous position
This couldn't be more true. Companies will be driven by AI harnesses (as defined by this article) that automate decision-making and prioritization. In the medium term, may the company with the best harness win.
In the longer term, the downstream impact is massive commoditization of software and invalidation of most existing moats. Data moats are gone if you can simulate the data with AI. Even platform effects can be sidestepped if AI replaces one side of the platform.
In addition, while right now agile startups have the advantage, at some point the balance will start tilting towards whoever has the most tokens (OR perhaps durable moats will trump even near-infinite tokens; we will have to see). Startups have a limited time window to have whatever impact in the world they are hoping to have, or to build a moat that won't be disrupted by AI, but there are few of them left in the world.
The upside is that when there is a lot of commoditization, then the consumer benefits.
I agree with this. I’ve seen it in my workplace but even more profoundly in my personal endeavors where I have more freedom to explore.
My current project is created by one-shot prompts. That’s not some kind of parlor trick. It is the framework for creating and evolving the product.
Many people laugh it off as “unserious”. But as I said, I see this happening in my place of work where people are paid lots of money.
https://jaisenmathai.com/articles/sojourn-for-ios-was-45-one...
> Harnesses go from internal tooling you’d happily buy to something you’d no more outsource than your product-eng org or your GTM team.
I couldn't have said this better myself. If you're not owning your harness, and you're not owning your model, then that leaves very little moat for any AI native company.
> Harnesses orchestrate individuals
I feel this is probably coming and perhaps inevitable, but I fear for the poor employees this sort of thing will be tried out on first.
Who ever wrote this it seems it never built any serious software. Software factories don’t exist and you will put yourself in a corner in a dangerous position