Whitepaper
Creativity vs Engineering in the AI Era
Contents
Where are all the AI-built apps?
Look what they say
ChatGPT 5 can instantly build an app with a single prompt.— Sam Altman
GROK will replace 95% of your developer teams— Elon Musk
You're all pieces of shit, my LLM will beat your code— Another BigTech CEO
With Cursor.AI you can build any app within a day!— One more CEO
With Cursor.AI you can build any app within a day!— One more CEO
Well. One day has already passed.
Where is all the AI-built software?
Where is it?
Maybe it's in the App Store? No, it's not Maybe it's on the web? No, it's not here either
Here it is!
It’s prototyped
What is the difference between a prototype and a product?
Prototype and mass use
1817
first design
by Baron Karl von Drais Sauerbronn
1869
pedals invention
by Pickering and Devis Co
1897
conventional shape
2025
modern triathlon bicycle
User's feedback
1897
It is not the machine's fault; it is the man's. The bicycle is a thing of beauty and a joy forever—until you try to ride it.
The bicycle, I was glad to see, showed spirit; and the subsequent proceedings degenerated into little else than a rough and-tumble fight between him and the machine. One moment the bicycle would be on the gravel path, and he on top of it; the next, the position would be reversed—he on the gravel path, the bicycle on him.— Jerome K. Jerome, "Three Men on Wheels"
2025
I just rode through the fucking shark at 90 MPH, and I am feeling kinda great about it— Remco Evenepoel, Road Race Olympic Gold 2024
What's that all about: Complications
For a better example, let's look at the term 'Complications' in horology (the science of timekeeping).
A complication is any feature of a timepiece beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds.
1737
One of the first pocket watch illustrations, Acta Eruditorum
1943
Three complications on a Gallet MultiChron Navigator
- — a crown-controlled synchronizable second hand,
- — a direction-finding 24-hour hand,
- — and a 45-minute recording chronograph
2015
"The Most Complicated Watch in the World" by Vacheron Constantin
- — 57 complications.
- — 2826 components
- — US$ 3 million per piece.
Centuries of industrial evolution* bring standardized** solutions to solving the complications.
* Which software developments are not yet possessed
** Which software development is not yet possessed
Yet, adding a lot of complications into one piece is an act of engineering so complex that it makes it look like art.
Do you need complications?
Well, you are probably not
But when you deliver the product to your customers, they will
Moreover, you are to face microservices
Microservices are the small parts of logic into which each conventional software is divided.
Here's the trick: microservices will quietly bring you the same issues. And, just like users, they are inevitable.
The problem of modern large IT departments
Simply — you can only see them by yourself (or with a group of disciplined and well-instructed friends).
95%
of the work is solving problems
What is Toa?
Toa
When creativity meets engineering
Toa— Artem Gurtovoi
is the Art of Seeing Patterns in Complications
