You’ve probably been there. You spend weeks, maybe months, learning the ins and outs of a shiny new AI tool. You rewrite your entire workflow around it. You finally feel like you’ve cracked the code to 10x productivity. And then, you get the email. “We are sunsetting this product.”
This week, it’s Google’s turn. They just announced they are shutting down the consumer version of Gemini Code Assist on GitHub. If you built your code review process around it, you have until July 17 to figure out a new way to work. But let’s be honest, this isn’t just a Google problem. It’s an industry-wide sickness.
Tech giants are marketing AI as the permanent foundation of the future, but they treat their own products like temporary science experiments.
Have you ever visited killedbygoogle.com? It’s a graveyard of hundreds of products that Google launched with massive hype, only to abandon when they got bored. And they aren’t alone. The entire tech industry is suffering from a chronic inability to commit. They push us to integrate AI deeply into our businesses, promising it’s the “new electricity.” But how can you wire your house for electricity if the power company might just pack up and leave town in six months?
If you are a solopreneur or running a small business, this is your biggest hidden risk. You review a new AI utility, check the features, compare the pricing, and think it’s a great deal. But you’re missing the most crucial metric: product mortality. How painful is your life if this tool vanishes tomorrow?
A tool being genuinely good today says absolutely nothing about whether it will still exist in six months.
Here is the dark twist: by constantly killing their own products, tech giants are inadvertently sabotaging the very AI adoption curve they are desperately trying to push. They are training us to be cynical. They are teaching us to keep AI at arm’s length. Why would I deeply integrate an AI agent into my core operations if history tells me it has the lifespan of a fruit fly?
We need to stop treating these tools like permanent infrastructure. They are not foundations; they are scaffolding. Use them to speed up a task, but never let them become the load-bearing wall of your business.
Trust isn’t built on launch day. It’s built by staying alive. And right now, the AI industry is failing the ultimate trust test.
Next time a tech company unveils a “revolutionary” AI tool, ask them about their commitment. Until they prove they can keep the lights on for more than a year, keep your distance. Your business’s survival depends on tools that actually survive.
FAQ
Q: Isn't this just the normal cycle of innovation? Some products fail, some succeed.
A: Innovation requires iteration, but trust requires stability. When tech giants treat their flagship AI tools as disposable, they don't just kill a product—they kill user confidence in the entire ecosystem.
Q: How should businesses actually use AI then?
A: Treat AI tools as temporary scaffolding, not load-bearing infrastructure. Use them to accelerate specific tasks, but always maintain a manual fallback or alternative process if the tool suddenly disappears.
Q: Is Google really worse than the rest of the industry?
A: Google is just the most visible offender thanks to sites like killedbygoogle.com, but the entire sector shares the blame. The real issue is the industry-wide expectation that users should deeply integrate tools that have no guaranteed lifespan.