——The Deep Divide: ToB, ToC, and ToAI (Based on April 2026 Insights)
In April 2026, AI Agents are rapidly moving from laboratories into large-scale production deployment. According to Gartner’s forecast, by the end of 2026, approximately 40% of enterprise applications will integrate task-specific AI Agents — up from less than 5% in 2025, representing significant growth. The generative AI market continues to expand rapidly and is becoming a major driving force for innovation. AI is no longer an add-on feature for apps; it is becoming the underlying infrastructure for most applications.
The fate of apps is no longer a simple matter of “disappearing” or “surviving.” Instead, they are being profoundly reshaped along three distinct tracks:
- ToB (Enterprise Services): Shifting from complex interfaces to API-first and Agent-friendly designs. Enterprises no longer buy stacks of standalone apps; they build a unified “AI Operating System.” Most ToB applications will become “invisible” or extremely simplified. Who will become the DOS of this era?
- ToC (Consumer Apps): Standing firm on the principle of “built for humans.” Emotional connection, immersive experiences, and privacy trust remain the core moats. AI acts more as a powerful enhancer than a complete replacement. Who will become the super app of this era?
- ToAI (面向AI Agent): A brand-new species. With no human-facing interface, charged by API calls, it provides atomic capabilities exclusively for Agents and serves as the “water, electricity, and coal” of the AI ecosystem.
However, reality is far more complex than optimistic predictions. Institutions like Gartner warn that up to 40% of Agent projects may fail, due to legacy system incompatibility, governance risks, multi-Agent coordination chaos, and increasingly prominent human resistance. The following analysis offers a more thorough and balanced perspective.
I. ToB Apps: From “Gorgeous Interfaces” to “Agent-Hybrid Infrastructure”
Most ToB apps will not disappear entirely but will undergo deep transformation. In routine scenarios, interfaces will be greatly simplified or eliminated, leaving only data interfaces and business logic for AI Agents to call. Enterprises are shifting from “buying apps” to “buying AI capabilities.” However, in high-risk or heavily regulated scenarios, simplified human-machine interfaces will still be retained, forming a “human-Agent hybrid model.”
Typical Transformation Scenarios:
1. Enterprise Management Software (ERP, CRM, HR, Finance Systems)
Complex dashboards and multi-step processes will be dramatically simplified. A sales manager can simply tell an Agent: “Pull last quarter’s regional sales data, analyze anomalies, generate a CEO report email, and auto-approve low-risk contracts.” The Agent executes quickly, and employees rarely need to open the original app. Yet in critical scenarios such as million-dollar contract approvals or compliance reviews, a human final-check interface remains essential.
2. Industry Vertical Tools (Logistics Scheduling, Supply Chain, Legal Contract Review, Industrial IoT Monitoring)
These apps will proactively open interfaces and become the “sensory nerves” of Agents. For example, an industrial equipment inspection app no longer relies on manual dashboard viewing — real-time data streams feed directly into the Agent, which automatically triggers work orders, arranges maintenance, or even predicts failures. Companies slow to transform will be left far behind by AI-powered competitors.
3. Internal Knowledge Bases and Document Systems
They will evolve into an enterprise’s dedicated “second brain.” Agents can call historical contracts and meeting records at any time without manual organization. However, in creative brainstorming or sensitive knowledge-sharing scenarios, collaborative interfaces must still be retained to prevent Agent “hallucinations” from causing decision errors.
ToB Apps That May Truly Disappear or Be Marginalized:
- Isolated tools that refuse to open interfaces.
- Low-value pure-manual middle layers (e.g., simple approval workflows, standalone invoice recognition, business card scanning, basic time trackers).
- Some data collection and monitoring apps that cannot deeply integrate with Agents will become background data pipelines rather than standalone products.
The Dark Side of ToB: Agent Tyranny and the Risk of Human Exit
Full Agentization may bring hidden dangers: humans are gradually excluded from decision-making loops. Agents pursuing ultimate efficiency may compress “human confirmation” steps — for instance, a supply chain Agent switches suppliers for a better price but overlooks compliance risks hidden in remark fields. Multi-Agent systems may also trigger “algorithmic collusion” or prisoner’s dilemma scenarios, harming overall interests.
A deeper impact is the shrinkage of middle-management positions — roles once responsible for approval are quietly taken over by Agents. When decisions go wrong, accountability becomes a legal gray zone. Therefore, the core competitiveness of future ToB apps will no longer be “the more invisible, the better,” but the mandatory retention of human circuit breakers: critical decisions must require human signature confirmation. This will become a key differentiator for next-generation products. During transformation, employee covert resistance (such as inputting wrong data or disabling interfaces) may pose an even greater challenge than technical issues.
II. ToC Apps: Built for Humans — “Human Touch” + Privacy + Anti-AI Backlash Form a Triple Moat
ToC apps are designed for real people. No matter how powerful AI becomes, it cannot fully replace emotion, sensory enjoyment, and social needs. Winning apps will actively “do subtraction” — making interfaces more beautiful and immersive, with AI serving as a background enhancer that users can summon at will.
ToC Categories That Will Not Disappear but Will Become Stronger:
1. Social and Emotional Connection Apps (WeChat, Douyin/TikTok, X, Xiaohongshu)
AI can provide precise recommendations and draft replies, but the core experience remains real-time human banter, resonance, and authentic interaction. This genuine resonance is something Agents can never perfectly simulate.
2. Creative and Self-Expression Apps (Music production, writing tools, etc.)
AI can generate 99% of first drafts, but final aesthetic judgment, emotional infusion, and narrative soul must come from humans. This remains “my creative space.”
3. Health, Fitness, and Mindfulness Apps (Keep, meditation apps, sleep trackers)
Users seek ritual, community belonging, and absolute control over personal data. Excessive AI intervention may instead provoke backlash.
4. Entertainment and Immersive Experience Apps (Games, VR/AR, live streaming, short dramas)
AI can assist with content generation, but the adrenaline and emotional highs from real human interaction remain irreplaceable.
5. Super Apps: In the AI era, super apps still hold strong vitality. Just as WeChat, Facebook, and YouTube rose in the internet age, platforms like X are exploring AI-enhanced super integration paths, delivering one-stop experiences across multiple user scenarios.
The Fate of Utility Apps:
Lightweight tools (calculators, flashlights, unit converters) will partially be absorbed directly by system-level AI or operating systems. However, the “super app” trend may rise, delivering cross-scenario hyper-personalized experiences through AI.
Privacy and Data Sovereignty: The Underlying Moat
Only apps with end-side encryption, local processing, and full user control can earn long-term trust. Any ToC app that excessively collects data or relies heavily on the cloud will face collective user exodus.
The Anti-AI ToC Backlash: A Low-Tech Retro Movement
As AI permeates every corner of life, some users will deliberately escape it. By 2030, “anti-AI” apps may emerge:
- Music platforms without recommendation algorithms — only manual song selection and friend sharing, returning to the black vinyl or iPod era.
- Pure human chat apps that prohibit AI-generated replies — every message marked “sent by human,” with no auto-completion.
- “Human-certified” content platforms where AI-generated content is forcibly labeled and downranked, encouraging pure human creation.
These apps may not have the largest user bases, but like vinyl records or mechanical watches, they will gain extremely high stickiness and willingness to pay due to their scarcity and clear stance. The real moat will no longer be just “human touch,” but the “anti-AI stance” — their slogan might be: “No Agents here, only humans.”
III. ToAI Apps: Plugin Market for Agents and Niche Survival
ToAI does not serve humans directly — it serves Agents. With extremely minimal interfaces (sometimes only API documentation and billing systems), it charges based on call volume or task complexity.
Typical Examples:
- Agent capability stores: providing atomic abilities such as real-time weather, stock quotes, legal provisions, and logistics queries.
- Data cleaning and structuring services: converting unstructured content into formats Agents can use efficiently.
- Multi-Agent task orchestrators: handling conflict arbitration, result merging, and priority management.
- Trust-endorsement services: court-admissible electronic evidence, official weather reports, etc. — these require institutional authority that general Agents cannot provide themselves.
A Core Paradox
If general Agents become powerful enough to call APIs, parse PDFs, and orchestrate tasks themselves, why would they need human-designed ToAI services? The answer lies in two key gaps: the capability gap (accessing private data sources or physical devices requires standardized adapters) and the trust gap (requiring official endorsement or legal validity). Therefore, ToAI is more likely to survive in narrow but persistent niches. Entrepreneurs must ask themselves: “Why can’t the Agent do this itself?” If the answer points to authority or physical execution, then value remains.
IV. Challenges and Risks in the Transformation
- High ToB Failure Risk: Legacy systems, multi-Agent coordination, and governance issues may cause many projects to fail. Human resistance (e.g., fear of job loss) may be an even more hidden challenge.
- ToC Privacy Backlash: Users are increasingly wary of data being read by Agents. “Data trust” apps may emerge in the future, enabling limited authorization and revocable access.
- Ecosystem Fragmentation: Inconsistent protocols lead to “Agent islands.” The eventual winners may be standards set by monopolists rather than the technically superior ones.
- Human Role Transformation: AI handles routine work, while humans shift toward strategy, emotion, and creativity. “AI literacy” will become an essential skill; individuals unable to collaborate with Agents will face employment pressure.
V. A Glimpse of Daily Life in 2030: A Cyber Jungle Full of Friction
In the morning, when planning your itinerary, your personal Agent tries to pull sleep data from your health app but receives only a vague “moderate rest quality” label due to privacy protocols. Douyin’s recommendations seem to understand you perfectly, yet your emotional data may have been quietly sold to advertisers. In a game, a “real” teammate delivers sharp banter, only for you to later discover it was actually another player’s Agent in disguise. The real 2030 will not be a seamless utopia, but a complex ecosystem full of protocol pop-ups, games of power, and countermeasures.
VI. Conclusion: AI Does Not Eliminate Apps — It Makes Them “Return to Position” Amid Contradictions
- ToB → Agent-hybrid infrastructure. Efficiency first, but it must retain “human circuit breakers,” or it risks triggering rebellion and decision disasters.
- ToC → “Human touch” + privacy + anti-AI backlash form a triple moat. “Anti-AI” retro apps may actually thrive.
- ToAI → Survives in narrow niches, with trust and physical execution needs providing space.
- App Stores → Their role weakens, or they evolve into “Agent protocol certification bodies” and “data trust arbitration platforms.”
The ultimate winners will not be the smartest apps, but those most skilled at handling human-AI conflicts, privacy games, resistance movements, and legal responsibilities. AI is power, and apps are the interfaces of that power. This trend is accelerating, but the direction is not a one-way street. In 2030, the most frequently used app on your phone may well be the retro one that swears “never to use AI” — because humanity’s longing for genuine connection and autonomy has never faded.
Final Note: The development of AI exceeds our imagination. The views here represent a summary and reflection on current market trends and expert predictions, aiming to provide a balanced and forward-looking perspective.
