The rise of generative AI is often seen as an existential threat to the SaaS model. Interfaces would disappear, software would fade away, and existing players would become irrelevant. However, new figures from Databricks paint a different picture. Rather than undermining SaaS, AI appears to be increasing its use. This week, Databricks reported a revenue run rate of $5.4 billion, a 65 percent year-on-year increase. More than a quarter of that now comes from AI-related products.
The basic assumptions we had about how computers work have flipped. The IT-indoctrinated brain has always tried to attack messy real-world problems by surrounding them in a logical ring-fence. They hold onto this notion that computers are tools in the same way that shovels and drills are tools. They're a means to an end. Shovels are a means for making holes in the ground. Drills are means for making holes in the wall.
I remember a time when designing felt like speaking a secret language, a series of precise clicks and drags that, while powerful, felt more technical than fluid. Over the past three decades the evolution of design interfaces has been a journey from pixels to objects to concepts-each step abstracting away technical complexity and bringing us closer to pure creative intent.