This isn’t just about making coding easier. It’s about fundamentally changing who gets to create software and for what purpose. It’s about a future where your fleeting thought for a “weekend trip planner for my five best mates” doesn’t die in a WhatsApp group but becomes a tiny, functional app in seconds. This is the world Eugenia Kuyda is building with her new venture, Wabi. And if you know anything about Kuyda, you know she doesn’t do things by halves.
So, What on Earth is an AI App Ecosystem?
Let’s not get lost in jargon. Think about how YouTube works. Before it existed, if you wanted to share a video with the world, you needed a server, bandwidth, a web developer… it was a complete pain. YouTube provided the infrastructure, the tools, and, most importantly, the audience. It became an ecosystem where creators could upload, viewers could discover, and a whole new economy was born.
Now, apply that same logic to software applications. An AI app ecosystem is a platform where artificial intelligence acts as the behind-the-scenes engineer. A user provides a simple instruction in plain English—a prompt—and the AI translates that into a functional mini-application. But the magic isn’t just in the creation; it’s in the ecosystem. It combines this instant app creation with a social layer, allowing people to share, discover, modify, and collaborate on these creations. It transforms the solitary act of coding into a communal, creative experience. This is less like a traditional software development kit and more like a bustling digital workshop where everyone’s invited to tinker.
The Real Game-Changer: Instant App Creation
For years, the promise of “no-code” has been bubbling away, empowering people to build websites and simple apps with drag-and-drop interfaces. It was a fantastic step forward, but it still required learning the logic and limitations of a specific platform. Instant app creation driven by Large Language Models (LLMs) is something else entirely. It’s like the difference between assembling IKEA furniture with a manual versus simply asking your house to build you a bookshelf.
The technology hinges on LLMs that have been trained not just on the breadth of human language, but on vast libraries of code, user interface designs, and API documentation. When you type, “Create a tracker for my daily water intake with a fun animation,” the AI doesn’t just understand the words; it comprehends the intent. It pieces together the necessary components: a data input field, a counter, a visual progress bar, and a trigger for an animation. The result is a simple, functional piece of software born from a thought. The primary benefit is, of course, speed. But the more profound implication is the radical democratisation of technology. It puts the power to build directly into the hands of subject matter experts, pranksters, community organisers, and anyone with a creative spark, no computer science degree required.
Case Study: All Eyes on Wabi
This brings us to Eugenia Kuyda. Anyone who has followed the AI space knows her as the mind behind Replika, the AI companion app that has amassed an astonishing 35 million users. The story of the Replika evolution is a lesson in building emotional resonance with AI. Kuyda didn’t just build a chatbot; she built a platform where millions of people found a form of companionship, a testament to her deep understanding of human-AI interaction.
Now, she’s back with Wabi, and she’s brought some serious backing with her. As reported by TechCrunch, Kuyda has raised a jaw-dropping $20 million in a pre-seed round from a who’s who of Silicon Valley, including Naval Ravikant, Y Combinator’s Garry Tan, and Twitch co-founder Justin Kan. You don’t raise that kind of money on a half-baked idea. These investors are betting on Kuyda’s vision of what she calls the “YouTube of apps.”
Wabi is the embodiment of the principles we’ve just discussed. It’s a social platform where users can generate mini-apps, or “wabis,” using simple prompts. In the beta, users are already creating everything from simple games and personality quizzes to utility apps for daily tasks. As Kuyda told TechCrunch, “This was really made to help people who have nothing to do with coding… create apps from their daily lives.” It combines the generative power of AI with a feed, user profiles, and the ability to “remix” other people’s creations, laying the groundwork for a vibrant, user-driven ecosystem.
Why Social Sharing is the Secret Sauce
Let’s be honest, the Apple App Store and Google Play are graveyards for great ideas. They are over-saturated markets where discovery is almost entirely driven by paid advertising and editorial features. An independent creator has almost no chance of breaking through the noise.
Wabi’s masterstroke may well be its focus on social sharing. By building the platform around discovery and virality from day one, it sidesteps the App Store problem entirely. The value of a “wabi” isn’t just in its function; it’s in its shareability. Imagine creating a funny poll app for your friends, which they then share with their friends, who then remix it for their own inside jokes. This is how ideas spread naturally, and it’s a dynamic the big app stores have never managed to capture.
This social layer does more than just aid discovery. It fosters a community of creators who learn from and build upon each other’s work. Instead of being a walled-off product, each app becomes a starting point for someone else’s creativity. In this model, as Andreessen Horowitz’s Anish Acharya (another Wabi investor) notes, “Software has compounding value.” Each new creation adds to the collective intelligence and capability of the entire platform.
The Dawn of ‘Disposable Software’
One of the most fascinating concepts Wabi is championing is the idea of “disposable software.” This sounds negative, but it’s actually brilliant. Not every piece of software needs to be a permanent fixture on your phone, demanding updates and notifications. Most of our digital needs are temporary and contextual.
Think about it:
– A quick tool to decide where your team should go for lunch.
– A shared shopping list for a specific party you’re hosting.
– A fun little quiz to share on a group chat for five minutes of amusement.
Do these really need to be standalone, downloadable apps? Of course not. The vision for disposable software is a world of lightweight, single-purpose apps that you can spin up for a specific task and then forget about. This lowers the barrier to creation to almost zero. It encourages experimentation and playfulness because you’re not trying to build the next billion-dollar company; you’re just trying to solve a small, immediate problem or create a moment of fun. This shift from monolithic apps to ephemeral micro-tools could fundamentally change our relationship with software.
The Broader No-Code Infrastructure
Wabi is a trailblazer, but it isn’t emerging from a vacuum. It stands on the shoulders of the burgeoning no-code and low-code movement. Platforms like Bubble, Adalo, and Webflow have already proven there’s a massive appetite for tools that abstract away the complexity of coding. Even more advanced platforms like Replit (whose founder, Amjad Masad, is also a Wabi investor) are creating collaborative, browser-based coding environments that are far more accessible than traditional setups.
This growing infrastructure is crucial. It’s creating a generation of creators who think in terms of logic and user experience rather than syntax and compilers. Wabi and future AI app ecosystems are the next logical step in this journey, removing yet another layer of abstraction. The ultimate goal is a world where the only barrier to creating software is the quality of your idea.
The App Store’s Midlife Crisis?
So, what does this all mean for the future? We are standing on the cusp of a Cambrian explosion in software creation. For the first time, the tools of creation will be accessible to virtually anyone with a smartphone. This will lead to a level of personalisation and niche utility that the current app economy simply cannot support. We’ll see apps for our book clubs, our local hiking groups, and our family’s obscure inside jokes.
Of course, challenges remain. Moderation will be a monumental task. How do you prevent a platform for instant app creation from being flooded with spam, malicious apps, or inappropriate content? How will monetisation work in a world of disposable software? Wabi is planning to subsidise user costs initially whilst its product team figures out a long-term strategy. This is a classic Silicon Valley playbook: build the community first, figure out the money later.
Eugenia Kuyda’s track record with the Replika evolution shows she understands how to build and scale an AI-native community. With Wabi, she’s not just building a new app; she’s building a new paradigm for how software is made and shared. The old guard of app development has had a good run, but the walls of their garden are starting to look awfully fragile.
The question is no longer if this change is coming, but who will be the breakout winners. Will platforms like Wabi truly become the “YouTube of apps”? And as a user, what’s the first thing you’d build if all you had to do was ask?
