AI is a wonderful thing until it comes for your product, isn’t it?

Many tools are starting to bite the dust. There’s no use in fighting the future or pretending everything will be ok. That’s why I’m focusing on building curated platforms and publishing tools that matter even more when AI takes over.

Here are 5 ways to know if your product will become roadkill on the side of Anthropic highway.

1. If your app is a one-trick pony or single feature, you don’t have a moat. Admit it, then evolve toward a platform, ecosystem, or workflow hub.
2. If your UI is the sole selling point for your product, your days are numbered. Any kid can now ship a best-in-class interface by prompting and sharing competitor screenshots.
3. If your tool is made irrelevant when AI goes browser/OS native... Well, oopsie daisy. You didn’t have much to begin with.
4. If community forms outside your product (not within it) and you don’t have a loyal user base, you’re making yourself irrelevant.
5. If you’re slapping AI features onto your 5-year old product, your tool might already be a dinosaur. Your app should either be seamlessly integrated with AI (I’ll write more on that soon) or built to be valuable without it.

Indie makers who thrive in this new era will be those who build curated, highly opinionated (but tasteful) software. They’ll use AI to improve functionality in ways that are often invisible to the user. Values and vision cannot be copied. Code can.

AI isn’t going to end software any more than Garage Band killed the music industry. It’s just raising the bar and making room for better ideas.

It’s never too late to pivot and embrace reality.