Stephen Downes

I think this is a good observation. Phil Hill writes, "Just as Ben Thompson recently argued in Stratechery about Microsoft and broader software survival, AI changes how code gets written, not why institutions pay for ongoing software services. Let's break it down, starting with where the HackerNoon article gets it right." Specifically, "coding is not the same as providing software-as-a-service." Like anything we construct, software requires ongoing maintenance. There's no such thing as 'set it and forget it'. And maintenance (which includes the development of new features) requires an ongoing commitment and expertise. "AI changes the economics of creation. It does not eliminate the economics of operation, support, or trust at institutional scale." And that is what commercial software companies provide. (Now, I would add, that it does not follow that the LMS is not dead; the product category can disappear even if the need for software expertise continues - but that's a different issue).