Anish Acharya: Is SaaS Dead in a World of AI?

Anish Acharya from a16z discusses the future of SaaS in light of new AI capabilities, suggesting that the narrative of AI replacing all SaaS is overblown. He argues AI will more likely extend core business advantages rather than rebuild fundamental systems like ERP. Acharya highlights the decreasing costs of switching SaaS providers due to coding agents, fostering competition and innovation. He believes the application layer, particularly in coding and creative tools, is undervalued, acting as an aggregation layer across multiple specialized AI models. Challenging the idea of a tech bubble, Acharya points to increasing prices and fully utilized AI capacity as indicators of genuine demand. He also notes a shift towards power users paying significantly more for AI-driven services, changing margin considerations.