Hyper-customization: Infinite Editions of One

With the advancements of AI tools (for coding it's pretty decent now) the cost of creating software is converging to near zero.

We are moving past "personalization" (like Netflix recommendations) to "generation" (like Netflix making a movie just for you).

OK, we are not quite there yet, but getting closer.

Soon, everyone will have their own custom, auto-generated book/novel, music, photo collection and movie. It's going to feel like you are having your own "Personal Operating System".

The good side?

Well, everything feels like they were made just for you.

The bad side?

Well, many, actually.

Your own bubble

The hyper-customization bubble means that everyone lives in their own bubbles, everything is so customized that everything loses interoperability.

There are no more common conversations to be had. Simply because we are running out of common things to talk about.

This causes social isolation: if we don't watch the same movies or listen to the same music, what do we talk about at the water cooler?

Sounds scary?

Here is another one: the "Limited Edition" trap.

The limited edition of one

Historically, "custom" or "limited" meant high value because of scarcity.

When AI generates a unique song for your morning commute, that song is technically a "1 of 1" edition. If every song is a 1 of 1, the value of uniqueness drops to zero.

"Custom" used to mean "rare", but what happens when every item becomes unique?

Moving beyond the social consequences, here are few technical ones:

What will happen to standards and interoperability?

Interoperability?

I'm guessing some standards (protocols) are here to stay, well, as a minimum this is what keeps the internet (a web of interconnected networks) alive.

Interoperability?

Not (yet) a problem. Let's just take software that's so easy to customize: you can have a completely unique, different look and feel for many of your software and apps, however the core of the system remains unchanged (and common).

This breaks when you start creating "disposable software". Maybe you won't keep it for very long - since the main idea here is that this software is/was made only to fulfill a certain use case, which can even be temporary.

But what if you start liking your creation and keep it? 😃

That creates some "islands" on your software landscape that are completely unique to you, there is no guarantee whatsoever that it can and will work with anything "outside" of the system.

One more aspect: the communities around (software) tools.

Communities

Standardized means that in addition to documentation, the whole internet is available to help you. Opinionated means as a user of an app in a new domain, you don't have to make a million decisions about how something should work to just get started.

Documentation, the community that can help disappear in the moment you create that unique thing.

You are on your own.

You reached the Infinite Editions of One: When Everything is Special, Nothing Is.