I hope the future of AI isn't this sort, where companies provide the user/customer with an interface to an AI that can do things for the user... I would much prefer that companies instead provide an interface FOR an AI, and the user brings their own AI which connects to that interface.
In other words, provide my AI with tools, instead of providing me an AI that uses your tools.
That way, my AI can bring all the context it needs, and I can bring all of the settings and knowledge about what I want with me. I don't want a fractured world of tons of AIs i interact with where I have to explain all the fundamental information about what I want and how I work every time.
This also has the benefit of sidestepping the issue the essay is talking about. You provide a consistent tool, and the AI weirdness is not your issue anymore. You don't have to worry about solving for all the weird ways people prompt the AI, or the ways they break.
100% agree, and I predict this is where the actual nearest big battle in our industry will occur.
AI subsumes products. Users want that. Vendors, do not. AI does not work well when shackled within confines of a product - it works better from outside, where it can treat slices of products as tools, and mash them together into ad-hoc solutions. Alas, products is how our industry makes money. Take arbitrary slice of problem space, slap a trademark on it, and shill to people (or VCs for funding). This disconnect makes AI an existential threat to a good chunk of software industry, and you can bet that companies (possibly including your own employers) won't go gently into the night.
MCPs are an aberration, the early stage of "AI adoption" where no one knew what they're doing but they knew they "have to do something with AI!". This age is now ending, and I expect the tensions will go high, as most vendors will get desperate to avoid their products getting obsoleted overnight.
cortesoft · · focus · HN ↗
In other words, provide my AI with tools, instead of providing me an AI that uses your tools.
That way, my AI can bring all the context it needs, and I can bring all of the settings and knowledge about what I want with me. I don't want a fractured world of tons of AIs i interact with where I have to explain all the fundamental information about what I want and how I work every time.
This also has the benefit of sidestepping the issue the essay is talking about. You provide a consistent tool, and the AI weirdness is not your issue anymore. You don't have to worry about solving for all the weird ways people prompt the AI, or the ways they break.
TeMPOraL · · focus · HN ↗
AI subsumes products. Users want that. Vendors, do not. AI does not work well when shackled within confines of a product - it works better from outside, where it can treat slices of products as tools, and mash them together into ad-hoc solutions. Alas, products is how our industry makes money. Take arbitrary slice of problem space, slap a trademark on it, and shill to people (or VCs for funding). This disconnect makes AI an existential threat to a good chunk of software industry, and you can bet that companies (possibly including your own employers) won't go gently into the night.
MCPs are an aberration, the early stage of "AI adoption" where no one knew what they're doing but they knew they "have to do something with AI!". This age is now ending, and I expect the tensions will go high, as most vendors will get desperate to avoid their products getting obsoleted overnight.