5 ms·

Is this the end of - or at least a significant challenge to - SaaS? Why buy into saas tooling if you can just slap something together - that you fully own - wi

Is this the end of - or at least a significant challenge to - SaaS? Why buy into saas tooling if you can just slap something together - that you fully own - with something like this?

sealeck 1y ago
- Compliance - Thing should work reliably (and you want someone else to be responsible for fixing it if it doesn't) - Security - Most SaaS is sufficiently complex that an LLM cannot implement it
- throwacct 1y ago
  This x100. B2B is a different monster altogether.
- samsolomon 1y ago
  Enterprise SaaS are business processes that lean extremely heavily on software. Some of that could be amended by AI, but it's much harder for me to see that getting wholesale replaced the same way many consumer apps could be.
- jag729 1y ago
  In the limit, though, are these things real roadblocks to app builders replacing SaaS? Paying for reliability/support seems like the only real remaining advantage of SaaS if codegen models get 3-5x better, and even then the bar is the reliability of SaaS apps right now (which in a lot of cases is not that high). Could imagine a single universal app builder just charging a platform fee for support, or some business model along those lines. (Again, in the limit, I'm not sure that support would be too necessary)
giancarlostoro 1y ago
When you have a service outage you think the AI will be able to troubleshoot the entire system and resolve the issues?
- jkcorrea 1y ago
  if scaling laws and context windows continue, why not?
  - SonomaSays 1y ago
    There is coming a very_soon_time whereby one will have to ensure all the routes and failure_modes for the AIs plumbing are functional. What if the outage is specifically that AI_agent cant reach [thing]?
    - falcor84 1y ago
      > What if the outage is specifically that AI_agent cant reach [thing]? We already saw some examples of this in Anthropic's safety papers - the AI will reach out to the human to get help with that - essentially using a human as an API/tool.
      - SonomaSays 1y ago
        [dead]
      - yahoozoo 1y ago
        Or it will contact the FBI
headcanon 1y ago
Challenge, yes, but I wouldn't go far to say "end of". B2C SaaS will have more challenge the easier it gets to create things, but consumers have always been fickle anyway. I'd say B2B SaaS is mostly safe, partially because they want the support and don't want to have to maintain it. Today we have open-source versions of a lot of SaaS products, but the proprietary ones are still in business, mostly for that reason IME.
- calvinmorrison 1y ago
  you can swing it anyway you want - another reason we use spreadsheets, or another reason we don't use airtable, or CRM #37.... all systems require support and upkeep... nobody wants to do it.
- alvah 1y ago
  I think B2 (small) B SaaS is also in trouble pretty much now. Enterprise is a different thing though, the barriers to entry are not just building and maintaining the software.
  - msy 1y ago
    I don't buy this. Real small business have enough problems that trying to vibe code a Xero replacement isn't really high on the todo list.
    - NitpickLawyer 1y ago
      Small businesses also use a spreadsheet e-mailed from person to person. A vibe-coded x_table or x_base powered app would get them 80% there with minimal cost. I'd put it in a "it depends" category of things that might or might not happen in the near future.
    - Workaccount2 1y ago
      I'm in a small non-tech business and already have 7 "vibe coded" apps used daily. Two of them are replacements for what would have been paid for software. They wouldn't create a Xero replacement (although ironically I did vibecode a business order/finance tracking app for my own side hustle, fuck paying $30/mo when I just need the basics), they would vibecode any of the litany of small industry specific software packages they use.
nikcub 1y ago
maybe not b2b saas since that has always been around service contracts - but a lot of those internal processes that currently run in excel are prime for AI mini-app replacement. this is delivering what no-code promised us.
karn97 1y ago
[dead]

Is this the end of - or at least a significant challenge to - SaaS? Why buy into saas tooling if you can just slap something together - that you fully own - with something like this?

sealeck 1y ago

- Compliance - Thing should work reliably (and you want someone else to be responsible for fixing it if it doesn't) - Security - Most SaaS is sufficiently complex that an LLM cannot implement it

throwacct 1y ago
This x100. B2B is a different monster altogether.
samsolomon 1y ago
Enterprise SaaS are business processes that lean extremely heavily on software. Some of that could be amended by AI, but it's much harder for me to see that getting wholesale replaced the same way many consumer apps could be.
jag729 1y ago
In the limit, though, are these things real roadblocks to app builders replacing SaaS? Paying for reliability/support seems like the only real remaining advantage of SaaS if codegen models get 3-5x better, and even then the bar is the reliability of SaaS apps right now (which in a lot of cases is not that high). Could imagine a single universal app builder just charging a platform fee for support, or some business model along those lines. (Again, in the limit, I'm not sure that support would be too necessary)

giancarlostoro 1y ago

When you have a service outage you think the AI will be able to troubleshoot the entire system and resolve the issues?

jkcorrea 1y ago
if scaling laws and context windows continue, why not?
- SonomaSays 1y ago
  There is coming a very_soon_time whereby one will have to ensure all the routes and failure_modes for the AIs plumbing are functional. What if the outage is specifically that AI_agent cant reach [thing]?
  - falcor84 1y ago
    > What if the outage is specifically that AI_agent cant reach [thing]? We already saw some examples of this in Anthropic's safety papers - the AI will reach out to the human to get help with that - essentially using a human as an API/tool.
    - SonomaSays 1y ago
      [dead]
    - yahoozoo 1y ago
      Or it will contact the FBI

headcanon 1y ago

Challenge, yes, but I wouldn't go far to say "end of". B2C SaaS will have more challenge the easier it gets to create things, but consumers have always been fickle anyway. I'd say B2B SaaS is mostly safe, partially because they want the support and don't want to have to maintain it. Today we have open-source versions of a lot of SaaS products, but the proprietary ones are still in business, mostly for that reason IME.

calvinmorrison 1y ago
you can swing it anyway you want - another reason we use spreadsheets, or another reason we don't use airtable, or CRM #37.... all systems require support and upkeep... nobody wants to do it.
alvah 1y ago
I think B2 (small) B SaaS is also in trouble pretty much now. Enterprise is a different thing though, the barriers to entry are not just building and maintaining the software.
- msy 1y ago
  I don't buy this. Real small business have enough problems that trying to vibe code a Xero replacement isn't really high on the todo list.
  - NitpickLawyer 1y ago
    Small businesses also use a spreadsheet e-mailed from person to person. A vibe-coded x_table or x_base powered app would get them 80% there with minimal cost. I'd put it in a "it depends" category of things that might or might not happen in the near future.
  - Workaccount2 1y ago
    I'm in a small non-tech business and already have 7 "vibe coded" apps used daily. Two of them are replacements for what would have been paid for software. They wouldn't create a Xero replacement (although ironically I did vibecode a business order/finance tracking app for my own side hustle, fuck paying $30/mo when I just need the basics), they would vibecode any of the litany of small industry specific software packages they use.

nikcub 1y ago

maybe not b2b saas since that has always been around service contracts - but a lot of those internal processes that currently run in excel are prime for AI mini-app replacement. this is delivering what no-code promised us.

karn97 1y ago

[dead]