I've been thinking about an unintended consequence of AI making software development faster and faster.
What happens when companies start running out of things to build?
Right now, everyone is focused on how AI is helping developers ship features faster and burn through their backlogs. But at the same time, many companies are eliminating the very people who help them understand what customers need.
Customer support? Replace it with a chatbot.
Sales? AI SDRs.
Help understanding the product? AI-generated help centers and FAQs.
The problem is that those conversations aren't just a cost of doing business. They're one of the most valuable sources of product development ideas a company has. Every support conversation, sales call, and implementation meeting is an opportunity to better understand your customers, their businesses, and the problems they're trying to solve.
Eliminate those interactions, and you eliminate a huge source of product feedback. Meanwhile, your developers are moving faster than ever, burning through the backlog. Eventually, what's left to build? And how will you know?
This is one of the reasons we're so bullish on our "Software + Team" approach at Ambiki.
We have actual SLPs working in support, implementation, and sales. We want our team talking to customers, knowing them on a first-name basis, and understanding their problems.
We have a strong vision for Ambiki, but it would be arrogant to think we know everything our customers need. Some of our best features have come from simply listening to customers. Sometimes they weren't even asking for a feature. They were just telling us about their day.
AI has definitely made software development faster. But I think companies that eliminate human interaction in the name of efficiency are making a big mistake. Because building software faster doesn't help much if you've lost touch with what your customers actually need.