This piece discusses the emerging trend of **vertical AI applications**, highlighting how value in the AI market is shifting from foundational models to user-friendly tools tailored for specific tasks and industries. It uses the examples of **Windsurf** and **Cursor** in the coding assistant space, and **Perplexity** in AI-powered search, to illustrate that success is increasingly driven by **superior user experience and product-market fit**. The text posits that as core AI technology becomes commoditized, the **application layer**, focused on solving user problems and delivering tangible value, represents the next major growth area, with significant potential in fields like healthcare, education, and law. This transition is also marked by a move towards **usage-based pricing** models aligned with value delivered, and an expansion of the **Total Addressable Market (TAM)** as AI applications become accessible to everyday users.