Most conversations around AI seem to begin with fear.
People are worried about job losses, automation, and entire industries changing overnight. Every few days, there is another discussion online about which professions might disappear next and whether companies will eventually replace more people with software and AI tools.
Some of those concerns are valid. I think many industries will change faster than people expect.
But over the past few months, I started noticing something else happening at the same time.
After getting back to spending more time on X (Twitter), I came across many young people building small apps, tools, and online services. Some of them were tiny experiments. Others were already generating income. A few were slowly turning into proper businesses with paying customers and growing communities around them.
What stood out to me was not just the speed at which they were building things, but how possible it suddenly felt for individuals to create something useful on their own.
That feeling reminded me of something I had already seen years ago while working with smaller software companies.
Small Companies Were Already Showing What Was Possible
Since 2015, I’ve worked with companies like ibericode.com by Danny van Kooten and fdmedia.dev by Florian. Neither of these companies tried to become giant corporations with huge teams and layers of management. They stayed relatively small, focused on making useful products, and built tools people genuinely loved using.
That always fascinated me.
The internet already allowed smaller companies to exist and compete in ways that were difficult in traditional businesses. You did not need giant office spaces, endless meetings, or hundreds of employees to build something meaningful online.
But there was still a major barrier.
Actually building software products required a difficult combination of skills. You needed programming knowledge, design ability, marketing, technical confidence, and enough time and money to survive while creating something from scratch. Even if somebody had a genuinely good idea, turning it into a finished product often felt out of reach.
That gap suddenly feels much smaller now.
The Barrier Between Ideas and Building Is Shrinking
The biggest thing AI seems to be changing is not just automation. It is reducing the friction between having an idea and actually testing it in the real world.
I’m seeing designers launch products without needing full development teams. Developers are improving their writing and design faster than before. Curious people are experimenting with ideas they probably would not have attempted a few years ago because the technical barrier felt too high.
Some of these projects are incredibly small. Simple utility apps, browser extensions, and tiny SaaS products solving one annoying problem well.
Most of them are not trying to become billion-dollar companies, and honestly, I think that is what makes them interesting.
They feel personal.
Software Started Feeling Human Again
Recently, I purchased two apps from independent developers. One was tinyshots.app created by Christopher Woggon, and the other was smoothcapture.app built by Vu Nguyen.
What surprised me was not just the apps themselves, but the experience of buying them.
Everything felt simple and human. Whenever I needed help or had questions, it was easy to contact the founders directly. There were no giant support systems, endless ticket numbers, or complicated onboarding processes. It genuinely felt like buying software from another person instead of interacting with a large company.
At one point, I requested a feature for Tiny Shots, and within days it became part of an update release.
That kind of responsiveness is hard to imagine from most large software companies today. Usually, you submit a feature request, watch it disappear into some forum or roadmap, and then wait months or years hoping somebody notices it.
Smaller builders move differently. They listen faster, experiment faster, and care differently because the products are personal to them.
And honestly, I think AI and modern tools are making it easier for more people to operate this way.
It Feels Like the Reverse of What Happened Before
It reminds me of the opposite of what happened years ago when giant supermarkets and large retail chains slowly pushed out smaller independent stores.
Large companies became more scalable, more efficient, and more convenient, while smaller businesses struggled to compete.
AI strangely feels like the reverse of that in certain parts of digital work.
For the first time in a long while, individuals suddenly feel capable again.
Researching ideas, prototyping products, learning new skills, designing interfaces, writing copy, and testing concepts has become dramatically faster than it used to be. Tasks that once required multiple people or significant funding can now be explored by one person much more easily.
That does not mean large companies are going away. They will continue dominating many industries for a very long time.
But individuals suddenly have access to tools that dramatically increase what they are capable of building on their own, and I think that shift is important.
The Tools Changed, but Human Taste Still Matters
At the same time, I also think there is a misunderstanding happening online right now. Some people talk about AI as if the tools automatically create successful businesses by themselves.
That has not been my experience at all.
The tools became easier, but meaningful ideas still matter. Curiosity still matters. Taste still matters. Understanding people and solving real problems still matters.
AI can help people move faster, but it cannot replace human judgement or genuine interest in what you are building.
In some ways, I think individuality becomes even more important now. When everybody has access to similar tools, the difference comes from how people think, what they notice, and what they choose to create.
The Internet Feels Smaller Again
For a long time, the internet started feeling dominated by giant platforms, huge startups, algorithms, and endlessly optimised content. Everything slowly became bigger, more polished, and more corporate.
Lately, I’ve started noticing the opposite energy again.
Smaller niche tools, personal websites, solo founders, and tiny online businesses are quietly starting to feel more visible again. People building useful things for specific audiences without trying to become the next billion-dollar startup.
Not every founder wants venture capital. Some people simply want enough independence to work on their own terms and build a sustainable life around things they genuinely care about.
Honestly, I think that is part of why these stories are becoming interesting again.
Why This Feels Exciting to Me Personally
Earlier in my career, I spent years doing custom design work, and eventually it became exhausting. After a while, creating websites for clients stopped feeling creative and started feeling repetitive. That burnout was one of the reasons I slowly moved away from custom work and focused more on support and product-related businesses instead.
Even though I still loved the internet and design, building larger ideas often felt difficult to justify alone. There was always too much complexity, too much time involved, and too many moving parts. Now, for the first time in years, creating things online feels accessible again. Not easy, but possible.
There will still be noise. There will still be low-quality products, copied ideas, fake experts, and endless AI-generated content flooding the internet. But underneath all of that, something genuinely interesting is happening. More individuals are getting the ability to build things independently again, and honestly, that part feels exciting.
For a long time, the internet felt like it belonged mostly to platforms and large companies. Lately, it feels like individuals are slowly finding space on it again.
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