AI-generated apps are starting to look a lot like social posts

I saw a number yesterday that I can’t stop thinking about. Lingguang, Ant Group’s AI assistant, says more than four million people have created small interactive apps on its platform. Most of them reportedly can’t code. What surprised me more was what they’re making. Games are the most active category. Users created nearly 10,000 simulators in six months, and one college student’s idol simulator reached 13.35 million interactions. Maybe this is just another wave of AI novelty. But small apps are starting to behave more like social posts than traditional software. You no longer need a startup-sized problem. You can make a quiz for one class, a dinner app for tonight, or a game based on a joke from your group chat. People use it, share it, and move on. A similar idea is appearing in games. MakePlay turns a short description into something playable, then lets people edit it and publish it to an arcade. The appeal isn’t necessarily becoming a game developer. Sometimes you just want to see an idea come alive. Once anyone can make an app or game, the hard part is making one worth opening twice. Taste, curation, and community may matter more than generation itself. Do generated apps become a real creative medium, or do we end up with millions of disposable toys?