# Brendan Cody-Kenny: For some people AI is an identity shock. For others it is oxygen.

Technical Due Diligence for Software M&A https://sub.xiliary.com/p/brendancodykenny

### 2026-10-06 update #ai #early-web #experimentation #ideas #software
For some people AI is an identity shock. For others it is oxygen.
- A lot of ideas used to die at: yeah, but imagine how much work that would be. Usually that was a perfectly rational reason not to try.
- Six months of engineering meant ideas needed an economic justification, which pushed software toward SaaS, VC-scale markets and things somebody could plausibly pay for.
- AI lowers that tax. Weird ideas that were irrational to build can suddenly be worth trying.
- The early web was exciting because nothing had been built yet. The AI web could be exciting because everything is cheap enough to build.
- Both conditions give people permission to be weird. AI doesn't just make existing software cheaper. It reopens the possibility space.

https://sub.xiliary.com/p/brendancodykenny/posts/57/for-some-people-ai-is-an-identity-shock-for-others-it-is