Software is eating the world, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Marc Andreessen famously declared in 2011. The ensuing 15 years proved him prescient. In February 2026, a Substack article by Citrini Research grabbed headlines and triggered a market sell-off of SaaS (software-as-a-service) firms, wiping out nearly $1 trillion in market value in a matter of days. Citrini’s central thesis? A cannibalistic last feast where AI eats the very software industry that’s been eating the world.

The argument is simple: If anyone can prompt an LLM (large language model) and vibe-code a custom enterprise resource planning or customer relationship management system in an afternoon, then the multibillion-dollar SaaS industry will become a dinosaur overnight. It’s a frighteningly plausible thought that puts the spotlight on Citrini and the article’s author, James van Geelen. But it’s fundamentally naive because it assumes that we live in a world without friction.

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