When AI can generate product ideas almost for free, the hard part becomes deciding which ones are worth building. That's the argument Malte Scholz, head of product and co-founder of airfocus by Lucid, makes in an Oct. 8 airfocus post by Ivan Peric. "Product insight quality is the new moat," Scholz said. "In a world where AI can generate infinite ideas, the only edge left is knowing which of the signals matter."

Scholz points to Anthropic's launch of Claude Design, which the post calls a credible Figma competitor built in a fraction of the time it would have taken five years ago. "If they can pull this off in that short amount of time, nobody is really safe," he said. In his view, that kind of launch removes the first pillar most software companies relied on: that software is expensive to build.

Airfocus Co-Founder: Insight Quality Is the New Moat as AI Cuts Software Costs

Five moats that still hold

The post lists five defenses that it says survive after AI collapses build costs:

  • unique access to valuable customer and product usage data
  • interconnections inside a company's system, linking feedback, insights, opportunities, initiatives and decisions
  • user experience as a differentiator
  • switching costs
  • distribution and enterprise relationships

None of them is enough alone, the post says. Scholz is blunt about the first one: "Unique customer and product usage data is something only you have access to. So you better make sure the quality is good, and use that to your advantage." Bain & Company made a similar case to SaaS leaders in its 2025 Technology Report, writing: "Your data is your moat."