Research in brief · 1:00
The Abstract Machine
Why we built a machine that makes programs—and what happens when code generation becomes part of the user experience.
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We were building software to arrange supermarket shelves—ninety-one product categories, each with different rules. Every new category added more settings and exceptions. So we asked: why should one program handle them all? We built a system that writes a program for each category. We define a shared language: products, positions, priorities.
You describe the goal. AI writes the code. A checker tests the result and guides revisions. Once it works, we keep the code. It runs without AI. Useful patterns become building blocks for the next program. We call this—the Abstract Machine. AI is already making code cheaper. As that cost approaches zero, building a machine that makes programs starts to make more sense than hand-coding every variation.
You ask for an outcome. The product creates the program. Code generation becomes part of the user experience, everywhere.