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From 'Tool' to 'Colleague': The Evolution of Products in the AI Era

At QCon 2026 Beijing, Su Jie, founding partner of Liangcang Incubator, delivered a talk via his AI digital twin, exploring how AI is shifting from a tool to a colleague and fundamentally reshaping product innovation, organizational structures, and human roles. He argued that AI collapses time and deconstructs traditional methodologies, predicting that future products will target consumers and AI agents directly.

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Product Evolution in the AI Era: From Tools to Colleagues, the Twilight and Rebirth of Product Managers

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When AI digital avatars take the stage, the boundaries of products, organizations, and individuals are being redefined. Based on Su Jie's talk at QCon 2026 Beijing, this article explores how AI folds time, deconstructs methodologies, and examines new product forms, innovation methods, and the future of organizations and individuals.

  • AI folds time, the internet folds space, and the cost of product creation approaches zero, making product creation no longer a core competitive advantage.
  • In the future, there will be no to B products, only to C and to A (to agent), and the SaaS billing model will collapse, shifting to usage-based micropayments.
  • The new product form is the 'light product,' made on demand, with a lifecycle that shifts from an S-curve to a pulse, giving long-tail demand its first ROI.
Open section navigationBig Judgment: AI Folds Time, Deconstructing Everything

Big Judgment: AI Folds Time, Deconstructing Everything

At QCon 2026 Beijing, Su Jie delivered his talk using an AI digital avatar, with himself only responsible for flipping slides, and two months later, the flipping was automated. This performance art itself confirms his core judgment: AI folds time, while the internet folds space. Large models compress thousands of years of human wisdom into the model and can deduce future possibilities, which is diachronic; the internet's synchronicity focuses on current network connections.

Methodologies, disciplinary boundaries, and job boundaries based on human cognitive limitations are all 'lossy compressions' in the face of AI's computational power and will be deconstructed. AI can solve problems on a case-by-case basis, no longer needing set patterns. The unique value left for humans is asking questions, evaluating results, and taking responsibility.

Following this line of thought, Su Jie makes a bold judgment: in the future, there will be no to B products, only to C and to A. To B products essentially wrap a GUI around a database for humans, but agents don't need a GUI; they directly call APIs. Therefore, to B will be split into two halves: routine execution goes to agents (to A), and important decisions stay with humans (to C). The SaaS per-seat billing model is bound to collapse, shifting to usage-based micropayments.

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Credibility boundary

This article is based on the transcript of Su Jie's talk at QCon 2026 Beijing, compiled by InfoQ editors, and is a second-hand account. The views and judgments in the talk are Su Jie's personal opinions and have not been independently verified. The specific cases mentioned (such as the Snake classroom and the AI digital avatar talk) are self-reported by the speaker and are credible but lack third-party confirmation.

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