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permalink: "learn/01-the-shift.html"
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{% extends "base.njk" %}
{% block title %}The mental shift — Learn Houston{% endblock %}
{% block meta %}
<meta name="description" content="Why AI as a feature has a ceiling, and what it means to build past it.">
{% endblock %}
{% block stylesheets %}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css?v=3">
{% endblock %}
{% block body %}
    {% include "nav-docs.njk" %}

    <div class="layout">
      {% include "sidebar-learn.njk" %}

      <main class="content">
        <div class="content-label">Chapter 01</div>
        <h1>The mental shift.</h1>
        <p class="lead">
          Almost every app today treats AI as a feature. Houston is built
          around a different starting point.
        </p>

        <div class="toc">
          <div class="toc-label">On this page</div>
          <ol>
            <li>
              <a href="#ai-as-feature">How most apps use AI today</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#the-ceiling">Why this hits a ceiling</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#ai-native">What AI-native means</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#claude-code">Claude, meet Claude Code</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#example">Two apps, one job</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#difference">The key difference</a>
            </li>
            <li>
              <a href="#what-changes">What this changes for you</a>
            </li>
          </ol>
        </div>

        <h2 id="ai-as-feature">How most apps use AI today</h2>
        <p>
          Start with how every app is built, not just AI ones.
        </p>
        <p>
          Engineers write code. The code defines workflows — the paths a
          user takes through the app. Inside those workflows, the code
          calls capabilities: a database, an API, a function, a library.
        </p>
        <p>
          This shape is as old as software. Every app you've ever used is
          built this way.
        </p>
        <p>
          When AI shows up, it's one more capability. The code calls an LLM
          the way it used to call a function.
        </p>
        <p>
          The workflow is the app. The AI is a tool the workflow reaches
          for.
        </p>
        <p>
          This is true whether the AI feature is a one-line prompt or a
          sophisticated agentic loop. The workflow is fixed at build time.
          The AI runs inside it.
        </p>

        <h2 id="the-ceiling">Why this hits a ceiling</h2>
        <p>
          The workflow was written by an engineer before the user showed
          up. It covers the cases the engineer thought of.
        </p>
        <p>
          Every other case falls outside it.
        </p>
        <p>
          When a user hits one, the AI can't help. Not because the model
          isn't capable — because there's no path through the workflow
          that reaches what they need. The AI sits inside a box the
          engineer built, and it can't step out.
        </p>
        <p>
          Growing the box means shipping new code. Engineering time,
          prioritization, a release, an update. For most edge cases, that
          process never starts.
        </p>
        <p>
          This isn't a quality ceiling. It's a ceiling on what the user
          can ask for without calling you.
        </p>

        <h2 id="ai-native">What AI-native means</h2>
        <p>
          An AI-native app flips the relationship. The AI isn't a feature
          inside the app. It's how the user works with the app.
        </p>
        <p>
          It can do everything the user can do.
          It can also do things you never wrote code for.
        </p>
        <p>
          When an edge case comes up, the AI handles it by adapting. Not by
          waiting for you to ship a fix.
        </p>

        <h2 id="claude-code">Claude, meet Claude Code</h2>
        <p>
          AI-native apps became possible because of the gap between Claude
          and Claude Code. Here's why.
        </p>
        <p>
          <strong>Claude</strong> is the model you call through an API. You
          send a prompt, you get a response. It's stateless. It doesn't see
          your files, it doesn't run commands, it doesn't know your machine
          exists.
        </p>
        <p>
          <strong>Claude Code</strong> is Claude running locally with a set
          of tools: read a file, write a file, run a shell command, edit
          code, search a folder. It lives inside a working directory and
          can do real work there.
        </p>
        <p>
          An API call to Claude can answer "what columns should this export
          have?" Claude Code can open the script, add the columns, run the
          script, and put the file on the user's desktop.
        </p>
        <p>
          Houston is built on the Claude Code architecture, and Codex or
          any other local coding agent shaped like it works too.
        </p>

        <h2 id="example">Two apps, one job</h2>
        <p>
          Here's the same job in both shapes: turn bank statement PDFs into a
          clean Excel workbook.
        </p>

        <div class="compare">
          <div class="compare-card bad">
            <h4>AI as a feature</h4>
            <div class="compare-title">SimpleBooks</div>
            <ol>
              <li>User uploads a PDF.</li>
              <li>The app sends it to Claude via API.</li>
              <li>Claude extracts the transactions.</li>
              <li>The app runs Python to format a workbook.</li>
              <li>The user downloads the workbook.</li>
            </ol>
          </div>

          <div class="compare-card good">
            <h4>AI-native</h4>
            <div class="compare-title">SmartBooks</div>
            <ol>
              <li>User drops the PDF into a chat input.</li>
              <li>
                Claude Code reads it, runs the app's Python scripts, and
                produces a workbook.
              </li>
              <li>User sees the result.</li>
            </ol>
          </div>
        </div>

        <p>
          Both apps work. Both produce a workbook. The difference shows up the
          moment the user wants something the engineer didn't plan for.
        </p>

        <h3>The user wants a new column</h3>
        <p>
          In SimpleBooks, the user has three choices. Edit the Excel by hand.
          File a feature request. Take the file to a different AI.
        </p>
        <p>
          In SmartBooks, the user says so. Claude Code edits the Python
          script on their machine. The next export has the new column.
          Done.
        </p>

        <h3>The edge case is for one client only</h3>
        <p>
          In SimpleBooks, there's no version of this that works.
        </p>
        <p>
          In SmartBooks, Claude Code adds a rule that only applies to that
          one client. Nothing else changes. The edge case is handled.
        </p>

        <h2 id="difference">The key difference</h2>
        <p>
          In SimpleBooks, the workflow is frozen. The AI fits where the
          engineer said it could.
        </p>
        <p>
          In SmartBooks, the workflow is soft. The AI is in the middle. The
          code around it is something the AI can change.
        </p>
        <p>
          This is the shift. Everything else in Houston follows from it.
        </p>

        <h2 id="what-changes">What this changes for you</h2>
        <p>
          You stop trying to anticipate every user need. You stop building
          rigid workflows that break on edge cases you couldn't see coming.
        </p>
        <p>
          You ship a set of capabilities instead. The AI figures out how to
          combine them for what the user actually wants.
        </p>
        <p>
          Your app becomes a toolkit. Your users' AI becomes the operator.
        </p>

        <div class="pager">
          <a href="index.html">
            <div class="pager-label">← Previous</div>
            <div class="pager-title">Overview</div>
          </a>
          <a href="02-symmetric-participation.html" class="next">
            <div class="pager-label">Next →</div>
            <div class="pager-title">Humans and AI, as equals</div>
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      </main>
    </div>
  {% endblock %}
