Claude by Anthropic: AI Killed the Software Star

 

Anthropic is showing the spearhead of what will be a radical model shift in the software industry or its complete end. This is much more than just shaking the board. Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent has demonstrated tools and capabilities to do the work that entire companies do today: automated legal research, customer management without needing Salesforce, advanced data analysis without consulting firms. The industry is entering panic and the entire reality we live in is beginning to collapse.

The S&P 500 had an extreme reaction this week. A brutal 4% plunge, but this was not an isolated event, rather the eighth consecutive session with similar results. In just one month of 2026, the sector has lost 20% of its value. We are talking about one trillion dollars that have vanished. Companies like Thomson Reuters, Salesforce, LegalZoom, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have been massacred by the violent reallocation of investments that are fleeing at full speed. Short bets against the industry and in favor of the end of traditional software are starting to rise. The unthinkable is beginning to materialize: the beginning of the end of the software we once knew.

Jensen Huang, Nvidia's CEO, has tried to calm the frenzy. He says it is illogical to think about the end of traditional software, but we live in times that might seem illogical. Huang speaks of AI as an enabler and amplifier of current software and not as its destroyer. But how many jobs has AI already eliminated to date? Would it not seem the most logical thing that the trend will now continue with software companies? What makes us think that AI will not have the capacity to make current software obsolete?

Micro hysteria is what some call this wave of speculation. Huang assures that AI needs software, although an analysis of AI's progress in recent years tells us the opposite. Certainly the use of AI is not yet widespread and perhaps it will take a few years to become generalized. However, in the world of investments people live in the future and not in the present. Although it seems illogical to think that thousands of companies that have invested millions in infrastructure will simply abandon it to adopt Anthropic or OpenAI agents, there is a more disturbing question: what about the new companies that are just starting? Will they have any interest in traditional software?

The software as we know it already has an expiration date. And that brings brutal implications for the companies in the sector. Will they continue to bet on developing their platforms? Will software gradually, or perhaps more quickly, become obsolete? Will there be interest in investing in software development companies in the immediate future?

One thing is certain: AI has already begun to powerfully take market share from traditional software. The sector will begin to disappear and it is clear that AI will predominate at some point. The only possible salvation at this moment for the large software developers is to specialize further and seek niches where AI will still take time to enter.

Today, eliminating platforms like SAP or Oracle would be like ripping out the guts of many companies. But it has become clear that little by little AI will replace traditional software. It will be a mandatory part of the accelerated technological evolution we are experiencing.

For years, the software value model showed signs of becoming less and less convenient. Rigid platforms where flexibility depended on higher costs. A subscription model that became more expensive based on more specific requirements. But AI has the capacity to solve general problems and learn quickly to advance and solve the most specific ones in less time.

It is clear that the impressive advances of Anthropic and OpenAI continue to transform the world we knew. In their wake, some things become obsolete in a very short time. Things we never imagined would end. The ability to adapt quickly is becoming an increasingly necessary and basic skill for survival. It is no longer optional. It is the only way not to fall behind when the market decides that what is worth millions today is worth nothing tomorrow.