Essays - Benedict Evans · Benedict Evans
articleinsightAI, tools and transformation
3 September 2026Strategy
Source excerpt
About Essays - Benedict EvansIt’s very tempting to imagine that AI turns everyone into a tool-builder - now everyone can just ask the model to make the software they need, and apps as we know them are dead. I think that misunderstands how most people think and where software actually comes from, and more importantly, it isn’t a path to change how companies actually work.
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Apollo layer
What a founder can learn
Founder takeaway
Don’t confuse making software easier to create with changing how customers work. Build AI products around a specific workflow and the organizational changes needed to adopt them—not the assumption that users want to become tool-builders.
Why it matters
A product can be technically easy to generate yet fail to create value if it ignores how people identify needs, make decisions, and integrate new tools into company processes.
Relevant guides
Put it to work
Choose one target workflow and ask: What must change in roles, decisions, incentives, or systems for our AI product to become part of everyday work?