Are independent AI tools living on borrowed time?

Are we too busy building features to see they’re being built over?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

A lot of us are giddy on the AI hype right now.

We’re learning prompts, creating templates, building automation stacks — crafting these highly optimised, AI-orchestrated lives.

And it’s exciting, right?

But I can’t help wondering… is all this noise distracting us from the real issue at hand?

Because while we’re figuring out how to use AI, the big AI platforms are figuring out how to absorb everything we’re building.

Think about it — the big model players are steadily folding more and more independent features into their own stacks.

Take OpenAI, for example.

They’ve moved from chat to checkout with “Buy it in ChatGPT” — with an Agentic Commerce Protocol co-developed with Stripe, pulling shopping carts and payments directly into the model layer.

Amazon is doing something similar with its Rufus and Lens Live integrations — turning search → conversation → purchase entirely inside its own walls. Essentially, they’re closing the loop so users never need to leave the platform.

Google is collapsing separate Gemini add-ons and bundling those capabilities straight into Workspace.
Platform-level absorption of once-independent tools.

Microsoft is baking generative image creation and editing right into Windows — Paint Cocreator, Photos, Snipping Tool — steadily squeezing out headroom for standalone image editors.

Adobe is doing the same with Firefly, building generative fill and vector creation directly into Photoshop and Illustrator.
A textbook “platform eats plugin” move.

And Meta?

They’re embedding AI photo editing straight into Instagram Stories — making it easier to bypass dozens of independent image-editing apps entirely.

There’s a clear pattern here — and it’s not subtle.

So here’s what I’m asking:

Are we thinking enough about this?

What’s the future impact of all these integrations?

Because right now, it would appear AI independents are frogs in water — splashing around while the temperature steadily rises.

And by the time they realise what’s happening, it might already be too late.

Because I don’t think they will exist in ten years.

Maybe not even five, at the current pace.

Just my opinion, of course.

But be real, once you let these thoughts manifest, and you pay attention to what is happening around you.

You realise just how screwed all these independent AI builders really are!

Now, I may be wrong, and hopefully I am. But then again, maybe I’m not!

If you find my insights useful, please consider sharing them with others in your network who may benefit.