While everyone chats about better models, smart money is flowing to orchestration layers
2025 was the year of model improvements. 2026 is the year of orchestration dominance. Individual AI capabilities are becoming table stakes. The real value—and investment—is moving to coordination layers.
We're witnessing the fastest commoditization in tech history. What took databases 20 years and cloud computing 15 years, AI is doing in 5. The implications are staggering for anyone building in this space.
Open source models are catching up to proprietary ones at lightning speed. API costs are plummeting. The differentiation that mattered in 2024 won't matter in 2026. Here's what's driving this change.
Read more →VC funding is moving away from model companies to orchestration platforms. Here's where smart money is flowing and why.
Coming soon →From GPT-4's dominance to today's competitive landscape. Track the commoditization curve and what comes next.
Coming soon →Look at where venture capital is flowing in 2026:
Smart investors realize something crucial: when everyone has access to GPT-4, Claude, and open source alternatives, the moat isn't in the model—it's in coordinating multiple models effectively.
The companies that win in AI won't be those with the best models. They'll be those with the best orchestration layers.
Building yet another LLM wrapper? You're already too late. The opportunity isn't in individual capabilities—it's in making existing capabilities work together seamlessly.
Stop evaluating individual AI tools. Start evaluating orchestration platforms. The question isn't "Which AI should we use?" but "How do we coordinate all the AIs we'll use?"
Look for companies solving coordination problems, not capability problems. The former has lasting moats. The latter has increasingly thin margins.
By the end of 2026, we'll see:
Ready to understand the technical foundation? Check out our AI Orchestration series for the strategic context, or see Enterprise AI for real-world adoption patterns.
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