I realised the other day I spend most of my time using my own AI-coded slop apps, rather than multi-billion dollar VC-backed offerings. And I kind of love them. They’re like bespoke fitted furniture.
I made my own audiobook player, my own Smart TV app, a custom RSS reader, and a game. I’ve got a native Windows desktop app to process media files, a macOS app to write regular expressions, and an iOS app that displays data from APIs. Now, when I look through the list of recent apps on my phone and computers, the top spots are filled with these apps. The usual suspects from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon are dwindling away. My phone has been de-FAANGed.
It’s not just me. Robin Sloan makes his own "home-cooked meal” apps. Paul Ford keeps making search engines, screensavers, and any other idea that pops into his head. Simon Willison made so many apps he panicked when AI wasn’t coding something. Brandon Thomas one-shotted Photoshop. Suddenly, anyone can make software.
When I think of an app I want, I’ve stopped bothering to search to see if it exists. I just make my own. I find a lot about this…