The End of Software w/ Chris Paik
When you end an essay with a line like:
“Majoring in computer science today will be like majoring in journalism in the late 90’s.”
You’re bound to ruffle some feathers. In the case of Chris Paik’s “End of Software” essay, not only were feathers ruffled, but the entire farm was flustered. And then the pitchforks came out…
“Software is expensive because developers are expensive. They are skilled translators–they translate human language into computer language and vice-versa. LLMs have proven themselves to be remarkably efficient at this and will drive the cost of creating software to zero. What happens when software no longer has to make money? We will experience a Cambrian explosion of software.”
Wait, I thought he said software was over? Now you’re telling us there’s about to be an explosion of the stuff?!? Not unlike the original Saleforce marketing campaign, there’s more here than meets the eye.
Given the violent response to the piece, both positive and negative, we approached Chris with the idea of adapting the Jimmy Kimmel “Mean Tweets” skit to address some of the critics and dive into the nuances of such a bombastic proclamation. What we ended up with was an incredible, and occasionally comical, deep dive into his thinking and observations around the innovation that’s emerging at the intersection of software development and Artificial Intelligence.
A few takeaways from this one:
— The cost of creating software is approaching zero, which will fundamentally change its nature. Software is shifting to a new phase where it will be created on-demand to serve a specific intent and then disappear. This is similar to how content creation and distribution costs went to zero with the internet, enabling ephemeral user-generated content.
— People are lazy and want software that routes them directly to what they want with minimal effort. Platform providers that can best deliver on user intent will monopolize the market, just as social media platforms monopolized attention.
— Solving the discovery and distribution challenges amidst this coming explosion of near-zero cost software will be the source of the biggest future opportunities and venture returns.
— While AI will make average software more accessible, it will also shift the curve to enable the creation of revolutionary new software that is better than what exists today.
A huge thanks to Chris for being so willing and open with this one. We had a ton of fun, and I think you’ll see a side to him you may not have seen before. He’s an incredible thinker, all-time investor and a ridiculously fun hang. If you’re in the market for a Series A round, you’d be lucky to have him and Pace on your cap table.
I hope you enjoy watching this one as much as we enjoyed making it.
