The New Moat is Taste
When coding becomes a commodity, taste is the only thing left.
The discussion has shifted from AI helping you write code to AI replacing the entire software development lifecycle.
AI Agents Are Now Your Personal App Dev Team
A new generation of tools is turning natural language into native apps, shifting the focus from technical skill to creative vision.
A tool called CatDoes v3 just launched, and it uses a team of AI agents to build native mobile and web apps from a simple description. It’s part of a wave of AI-powered builders aiming to democratise app development for anyone with an idea, regardless of their technical skill. The promise is to turn a napkin sketch into a functional app, complete with a backend and version control.
But this isn't really about 'no-code'. This is about the commoditisation of development itself. When the cost and complexity of building software plummets to near zero, the competitive advantage is no longer technical execution. The new moats are taste, market insight, and the ability to identify a problem worth solving. The value shifts from the 'how' to the 'what' and 'why'.
Let's be real, the first wave of these tools will be buggy and produce a flood of derivative apps. But they are a signal. The smart way to use them isn't to just build your big idea, but to rapidly prototype, test, and validate ideas at a speed that was impossible a year ago.
The Automated Workforce
A new class of AI tools is emerging to automate entire job functions, no code required.
Klariqo AI Voice Assistants: Launch a 24/7 AI voice assistant in 3 minutes
This tool lets you launch an AI voice assistant in three minutes, no code required. It's a sign that complex business functions like 24/7 customer service are being packaged into simple, accessible products.
Hirecarta: The free AI job search sidekick
A truly free AI-powered platform for building resumes and managing your job search is a direct challenge to the freemium model. It suggests the underlying tech is becoming a commodity, forcing competitors to justify their price.
Taming Digital Chaos
While some AI builds new things for you, another class is emerging to organize the digital chaos we've already created.
Haxiom: The AI-powered editor that ends doc chaos
This isn't just another Markdown editor; its AI finds and merges duplicate docs across your team. It tackles the real, painful problem of maintaining a single source of truth in a sea of team knowledge.
Nao: Your new AI data teammate
An AI-native data IDE that understands your data warehouse's schema to prevent errors before they happen. This is a shift from reactive debugging to proactive, context-aware development in the data world.
Quick hits
FlickNote: Your brain-dump's new taskmaster
Instantly turn voice notes into actionable tasks synced to your favourite apps, finally closing the gap between idea and execution.
Hatable: Your website's best worst-friend
Get a brutally honest, AI-powered roast of your landing page to find the critical flaws everyone else is too polite to mention.
Speakmac: Zero-latency, private dictation for Mac
A privacy-first, offline voice-to-text tool for macOS that processes everything locally, ditching the cloud and subscriptions for good.
My takeaway
The line between creator and consumer is dissolving.
AI tools are no longer just helping us use software better; they are becoming the software factory itself. This fundamentally changes the nature of digital work, moving the goalposts from technical execution to strategic direction. The most valuable skill is no longer coding, but taste and problem identification.
This wave of creation will unleash incredible innovation and an equal amount of noise. We will need new filters to sort the valuable from the trivial. It forces us to ask what is genuinely worth building in the first place.
What happens to the value of technical skill when everyone can build anything they can imagine?
Drop me a reply. Till next time, this is Louis, and you are reading Louis.log().