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Lukáš
Lukáš

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90% of SaaS is Doomed. Here is How Developers Can Survive the Agent Era.

Software is changing forever. In the near future, people will use AI agents to do almost everything. I believe 90% of traditional SaaS apps are doomed.

In this post, I will show you why the User Interface is dying. I will also share what we as developers need to build today to survive the AI revolution. Let's get started.

The Death of UI

One of the main reasons why agents will take over is very simple. It comes down to convenience.

For years, we built user interfaces. We tried our best to make them user-friendly. But what is a UI really? It is just a bridge. It displays data and allows the user to do stuff.

Learning dozens of different tools is exhausting. Speaking to an AI to do the work for you is much easier. Today, that AI is becoming an autonomous agent.

In 36 months, everyone will have their own main AI agent. That agent will orchestrate a swarm of other specialized agents. People will no longer have to learn complicated dashboards. UI will become a thing of the past.

It is not perfect yet. But we already have all the lego pieces required to replace massive amounts of software. Agents can learn skills. Agents can use memory. Agents can coordinate other tools.

Let's Look at a CRM Example

Data lives in a database. Let's assume your current CRM has an API. You want to stop paying 100 bucks a month for it. You ask your AI agent to migrate the CRM to something cheaper.

The agent will analyze the transition. If it is simple, it will just migrate all the data to a new database. It will create thin wrappers as skills to access your data. It will create cron jobs to automate reports. It will build integrations via webhooks.

You might be thinking about safety. What if the agent accidentally deletes the entire database? Who is responsible?

Remember that AI agents will not perform raw SQL queries. Instead, they will use standard SDKs. They will build consistent and safe skills to perform predictable CRUD operations.

But what if simple wrappers are not enough? What if you need complex roles, permissions, and advanced automations?

In that case, the agent will simply spin up an instance of an open-source solution. Very soon, all popular open-source repos will have agent skills built directly into their codebase. Your agent will install a tool like Directus on your favorite hosting provider. It will set it up automatically. You will never even log into the admin panel.

The 6 Ways to Survive

If UI is dying, how do developers stay relevant? I see 6 safe zones for the upcoming years.

1. Brand and Trust
AI will not replace personal connection. If you build a trustworthy brand, you can do masterminds, coaching, or live seminars. Human connection is safe.

2. Fun and Leisure
People will have more free time. Cinema, sports, and immersive games will become super competitive. If you create something unique and engaging in this area, you are safe long-term.

3. Heavy Compute and Hosting
AI agents will have to store data reliably somewhere. Hosting providers must be agent-friendly. They need to provide automatic backups, disaster recovery, and strong security. GPU clusters for rendering complex scenes are also safe. Agents cannot run heavy compute locally on a laptop.

4. Bits to Atoms
Anything where the end product is physical will be safe. Custom t-shirt printing, 3D printing, and logistics are great examples. AI lives in the digital world. It needs you to touch the physical world.

5. The Legal Wall
Payment processors like Stripe are safe. Anything that has massive compliance and legal requirements is a great moat. An AI agent cannot go to jail.

Everything else is basically doomed. Marketing automation, project management, and basic CRMs will take massive hits. Unless you build an agent infrastructure.

6. Agent Infrastructure
This is the most important point for us developers. If you are building a SaaS, you must focus on the Agent Interface instead of the User Interface.

Create skills for agents so they can easily connect to your service. No more user team slots or weird tiered memberships. Pay-as-you-go will become the new norm.

Your API must be highly competitive. If it is too expensive, the AI will just replicate your core functionality using open-source code.

A Real World Example

Let me give you a quick example of Agent Infrastructure.

Today, you might use an AI model like Nano Banana Pro to generate an amazing image. You are super happy with it. But later you want to move the text or change the font. You are screwed because the font is hardcoded into the pixels.

But imagine if a platform like Canva exposed a headless Agent Skill. Your agent could instruct Canva to compose the image in layers behind the scenes. Then, your agent could simply relocate the text and change the font. You would get the perfect result without ever visiting the Canva website.

This already exists for videos. Remotion released an AI skill that you can install right now. You can use it in Claude Code or Cursor. It composes a video for you. If you want changes, you just prompt it again.

Conclusion

Think of the future like a big company structure. You are the CEO. You have one main AI agent acting as your general manager. That manager controls specialized sub-agents. One takes care of your database. Another does internet research. A third one creates and schedules content.

Digital transformation is already happening. The puzzle pieces are here. Ignoring this shift is like trying to make your horse faster during the Industrial Revolution while everyone else is already building a car.

What are your thoughts on how the future will look? Are you building a UI wrapper or actual infrastructure? Let me know in the comments.

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