Amelia Bellamy-Royds

@csilverman I have heard that "democratizing" term mentioned before — and the natural push-back that creating more dependence on online subscription services is hardly distributed power — but it was still interesting to see this example.

Given my online networks, so much of the talk about code generation is from the perspective of genAI as used by programmers. Or as used on public-facing websites where other people are impacted by inaccessible slop.

It's different making software for yourself.

This is the real paradigm shift that "vibe coding" genAI creates. Not software companies trying to make more code with fewer programmers. But non-programmers building tools for themselves.

An Edmonton company, Jobber, makes an app very similar to the one my friend built: scheduling & invoicing on the go for tradespeople who do in-person jobs for many clients. Their pricing page currently has the basic app at $29/month, on sale from $49. They've built a 1000-employee business on this.

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Catching up with a friend last night, he wants to show me his new app.

It's a scheduling app for his dog-walking business, with built-in emails, invoicing, expense tracking, and financial reports ready to send to his accountant.

He's not a programmer. He developed it over 6 months by asking ChatGPT to add one feature at a time.

I warned him to double-check the numbers. I warned him to make sure he can still use it fully if the AI subscription becomes unaffordable.

But it seems useful.
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