Perspective

There is a lively discourse around AI’s impact on software right now—scenario analyses, moat taxonomies, bear cases for SaaS broadly. The more important question for founders is not whether AI disrupts vertical software, but what it takes to build something lasting in this specific moment.

For all the fears of over-investment, AI is spreading across enterprises at a pace with no precedent in modern software history. Our data indicates companies spent $37 billion on generative AI in 2025, a 3.2x year-over-year increase.

Long dismissed as a digital laggard that trailed years behind every major innovation wave, healthcare has flipped the script. The $4.9T industry is now deploying AI at 2.2x the rate of the broader economy.

AI’s consumer tipping point has arrived. 61% of American adults have used AI in the past six months, and nearly one in five rely on it every day. Scaled globally, that translates to 1.7–1.8B people who have used AI tools, with 500–600M engaging daily. This is no longer experimentation; it’s habit formation at an unprecedented scale.