AI Field Notes – Issue No. 24

AI Field Notes: The Real AI Disruption Isn’t Intelligence — It’s Creation Speed

Forget most of what you’re hearing about AI right now.

The biggest impact of AI is not the LLMs themselves. It’s not the datasets. It’s not even “intelligence,” as impressive as that is.

The real disruption is how much people can create — and how fast they can create it.

That’s the part most people are missing.

Vibe Coding Is the Canary in the Coal Mine

Vibe Coding isn’t perfect. The backend can be messy. The systems are still a little wonky.

We’re early. But what’s coming next is the important part.

Individuals — not teams, not enterprises — are about to build real products. Fast. Products that would have required entire software companies just a few years ago.

And that changes everything.

The End of “Fit Your Business Into the Software”

For the last 20 years, businesses bought software like:

• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• ERP systems
• CRMs
• Marketing platforms

And then they bent their processes to fit the software.

That model is breaking.

With AI-assisted and Vibe Coding-style development, the equation flips:

If you understand:

• Your workflows
• Your SOPs
• Your process flow

You can now build software around your business instead of forcing your business into someone else’s product.

And you can do it rapidly.

This Is a Direct Threat to Big Software Companies

This is where it gets uncomfortable for large incumbents.

Small teams — even individuals — will:

• Build custom platforms
• Replace expensive SaaS tools
• Scale faster than traditional software companies
• Compete directly with enterprise vendors

Not because they’re better engineers — but because they understand the workflow better.

AI rewards operational clarity, not company size.

The Real AI Advantage: Owning Your Operating System

The further I go down the AI path, the more convinced I am of this:

AI’s power isn’t what it knows. It’s what it lets you build.

When you step back, this isn’t just about tools — it’s about your entire operating system.

Think about:

• Your CRM
• Your inventory categorization
• Your data sources
• Your internal workflows
• How systems talk to each other

Now imagine building your own operating platform:

• All your data, unified
• No broken integrations
• No “this doesn’t talk to that”
• Systems that actually execute work for you

That’s the upending.

People Are Asking the Wrong Questions

Everyone keeps asking:

• How will LLMs monetize?
• Where’s the ad model?
• When do they start charging more?

Those questions miss the point.

AI isn’t just a product category. It’s a fundamental re-architecture of how businesses operate.

The companies that win won’t be the ones with the best prompts.

They’ll be the ones who understand:

• Their workflows
• Their processes
• Their data
• And how to turn those into software

Where This Hits Marketing (And Everything Else)

When you zoom out, this impacts:

• Marketing
• Sales
• Operations
• Customer experience
• Product development

AI isn’t sitting in one department.

It’s becoming the operating layer for the entire business.

And the people who understand that early — the ones building instead of just consuming — are the ones who will define the next decade.

That’s where AI really is.