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The software industry is in a fight for its life. But it's got a plan.
The "SaaSpocalypse" is one of the big themes of 2026, with people arguing AI could kill the software business. Why pay for software when AI can build it for you?
BI's Ashley Stewart spoke with executives and employees at Salesforce, Microsoft, and other software giants about how they're coping with the threat posed by AI.
Software companies say AI is just the next evolution of their business. AI agents that can navigate across their tools are how they plan to address this new era.
It's not a clear-cut solution, though. Agents create a new barrier between customers and software. That additional layer could hold much of the power and value that software once owned.
Either way, the reality among investors has been brutal. Massive stock selloffs suggest they're questioning software's role in an AI-driven world.
If you've been following along, I've never fully bought into the SaaSpocalypse.
The idea that massive companies will vibe-code their way to new payroll or customer relationship management systems is, to be blunt, laughable.
I get the concept sounds great in theory and for your bottom line. The reality is these tools are too critical — from compliance to reliability — to just wing it. The appetite among big companies to do this is limited, according to one software CEO I spoke to.
(As the Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri smartly noted, if it's so easy to do, why are Anthropic and OpenAI still using his product?)
Software companies aren't immune to AI, though. What's at risk is where they sit in the hierarchy of a customer's tools.
When it comes to AI agents, the real efficiencies are in their ability to work across multiple tools, not just one. With that mindset, an AI agent built for a specific software tool feels a lot less valuable than one that sits across all of them.
Personally, I'm happy playing the agent field for now. But eventually, I'd like to settle down with one that can streamline my work across a lot of different things. (My chatbot monogamy era.)
That doesn't mean the end of software. It just pushes it further down the stack since people won't be working directly with it. Instead, it'll be their agents. And the further away you sit from the customer, the less value you hold.
Think of it like the difference between your phone and your apps. Apps come and go, but most people don't switch between iPhones and Androids.
Software's not dying. It's disappearing from your view.
