AI is Helping to Disrupt Big Software

What if someone made a note-for-note copy of a popular application you’re probably paying too much for? What if they released it free and open source? Well, that day seems to be here and it’s causing quite a stir. A developer name Branden Thomas has used AI to recreate several programs at breakneck speed and they can all be downloaded now.

And oh boy is everyone is talking about them. The applications being replaced are primarily made by companies that have ‘enshittified’ their own programs, forced subscriptions, overcharged for updates and various other shady things causing a loss of user goodwill. For many that look at this, it’s a form of justice and those companies deserve this. In my mind, it’s capitalism working as intended. Every good thing in the market sticks around long enough to be replicated. As the application stands currently, its pricing models are based on AI usage credits.

The Programs

There’s something for everyone and on every major platform: The Word clone called WordCraft, The Acrobat clone named PDFCraft, even the AutoCAD clone in CADcraft. The applications are updating at a furious pace and new ones are being released weekly. It’s unknown what apps will be cloned next. ArtCraft offers a basic launcher to install and update and install these apps on the fly. There’s no fluff here, it’s just the programs and installations and updates.

And, in the time that I started to write this article and publish it, at least one new application dropped - FigCraft for interface design and prototyping. This speed of development is otherworldly.

Lightroom Classic (top) next to LightCraft (bottom)

This, of course, doesn’t discount DaVinci Resolve as a stellar video editor when an Adobe Premiere clone arrives. it may be that your skills are as an everyday Resolve user. None of these apps are some revelatory miracle or in danger of changing those tools.

“Clean-Room Reimplementation”

You’ll probably see these works repeated often when referencing these AI-assisted clones. The clean-room design process seeks to reverse engineer programs (by way of observation and public specifications) and then build them back from scratch without suffering the copyright infringement implications¹. There are other examples of this processing being used such as new implementations of computer BIOS software, but the list is not long due to the risks involved.

For applications that didn’t exist a mere month ago, that each and every one of these programs do anything useful is a minor miracle. Yes, AI helped build them, and that’s an important consideration, but this seems like an ‘AI for good’ scenario.

Testing the PDF Application

As a fairly heavy Acrobat user I can relate some of my experiences with PDFcraft. Core functions like organizing the PDF or merging multiple PDFs work well, and redact is there as expected. One can edit documents, OCR and place a signature. Most of these tools can be found in other capable open source tools too, though the interface looks so much like Adobe Acrobat that PDFcraft will be instantly familiar.

I’ve found some issues opening older files - rendering some pages as blank (where Adobe’s Acrobat would display them correctly). The developers appear to be working on that. The program needs some added refinement and settings can be somewhat limited for certain features. PDFcraft doesn’t yet include a print distiller or the create PDFs from a scanner feature². PDF encryption controls are also somewhat limited. Forms too are not always going to work great, though understandably that’s going to need work to get right.

PDFcraft on Windows and MacOS are note for note the same³. Looking at the code too, it seems they share the exact same code base.

Given the full platform support of PDFcraft, it had me thinking this program could eventually bring features across to platforms where Adobe has neglected them. Then, if it were to implement features such as those found in PDF Unlocker, this application is untouchable and even more capable than Acrobat itself. Now, there are so many alternative paid and open source PDF viewers and editors out there that you’d be stating the obvious that this has a long way to go before it’s a killer app.

Are They Worth Checking Out?

Yes, but with some caveats. This software is new and changing fast. It’s early alpha so a ton of things are just not going to work. You’ll need some patience. But you can’t deny is an exciting new frontier, and the software is incredibly close to handing most things your favorite expensive app does. Check them out, try them. Open source and AI could be a disruptive combination. Discover what works and watch this space. One never knows what’s next. Are the apps going to be sued into oblivion? You never know.

The Outer Edges

ArtCraft has inspired a ton of others to create applications that are replacements of well-known programs. MailCraft is one very interesting copy of Outlook. It doesn’t appear to support PST files directly, but it has the interface elements down perfectly. Also, as you can imagine, Mailcraft cannot yet connect to Exchange or 365 servers natively, only POP and IMAP. One would imagine some of these could be scooped up by ArtCraft and incorporated into the larger suite of applications and maybe supplant some core tools people love and but would never give up.

Effects on the Industry

I’m seeing some interesting effects industry-wide. The business world has taken notice and cooled on Adobe stock. Given that this is a time of transition for the company, this sort of disruption could hit hard. No word yet on lawsuits against Thomas or ArtCraft, but one can be certain Adobe is thinking about how to attack this development. It’s only going to get worse for Adobe as AI clones will keep popping up and improving.

This video by El is a good overview of we’re looking at. She gives an interesting perspective on the possible macro effects of this free software

I don’t agree with her that the bet was ever “software is over.” This is more of a potential displacement of a mature tool that has lost substantial goodwill. That happens all the time, and AI seems to have created unique velocity we’ve never seen before. If the Craft apps fail, the success may be in showing others that it could be done. She misses the mark on free software too, mainly because tools like Gimp were never intended to replicate Photoshop’s environment; PhotoCraft seems purpose-built to do just that. El gives some good perspective on this evolving situation:

You can freely download ArtCraft applications at their website.