As AI continues to transform industries, the distinction between software engineers and AI engineers is dissolving. At Anyone AI we believe that it's becoming increasingly clear that every software engineer will eventually become an AI professional.

The rise of verticalized AI solutions is driving this shift, and AI will be a component of every engineer’s toolkit. Pete Flint recently wrote an excellent article "The Verticalization of Everything" highlighting this shift. The key takeaway: AI is enabling the unbundling of horizontal SaaS, pushing the industry toward highly specialized vertical SaaS platforms. “Rather than creating industry-agnostic mega-platforms, we will see the rise of highly trained industry specialist platforms.” These specialized platforms will leverage AI trained models to increase efficiency and execute at a high-level whilst radically reducing cost structures.

The rise of Verticalized AI solutions

Take Clay, a company that uses AI and data enrichment for automated and highly personalized cold email outreach. Clay excels at one specific task, delivering exceptional performance by focusing on a narrow, well-defined use case. Compare this to a platform like HubSpot, which handles hundreds of tasks—from marketing automation to CRM management. While HubSpot provides a wide range of services across industries, it lacks the specialized AI focus that allows Clay to dominate its niche. Clay has finetuned AI-powered outreach, making it far more effective at that one task than a generalist platform like HubSpot. This is exactly the kind of verticalization startups can focus on in order to outperform legacy platforms that try to be everything to everyone.

Horizontal industry-agnostic SaaS platforms are vulnerable to disruption by AI-powered vertical solutions. Vertical SaaS companies can focus on solving specific industry problems with precision, creating deeply integrated AI models that deliver superior results.

The future of Software Development is AI-Driven

This trend is reshaping how companies are building products, and in turn, transforming the role of software engineers. Every software company must evolve into an AI company, as the ability to build with AI becomes essential in creating vertical solutions.

The skills required to build successful vertical AI solutions increasingly blend traditional software development with AI expertise. Engineers must now understand data processing, how to apply AI, and how to finetune models to cater to a specific industry’s needs.

The verticalization of software is creating new opportunities in previously underserved markets. AI is allowing vertical SaaS companies to carve out niches in industries like law, logistics, and healthcare, offering highly tailored solutions that can solve complex, industry-specific challenges. And this, in turn, requires engineers to adopt AI into their daily work to build smarter, more adaptive solutions.

In a world where AI-powered vertical SaaS companies will start to dominate their fields, software engineers must be able to think like AI engineers. They need to understand how to optimize models for specific use cases, ensuring that the AI delivers exceptional results in those verticals.

AI will be at the center of every vertical SaaS platform, and the role of the software engineer is evolving, with AI becoming an essential skill set. From crafting AI-driven cold-email systems like Clay to developing niche solutions across other industries, the future of software development is inextricably linked to AI and we believe that every software engineer will be an AI engineer!