I’ve been wrestling with the idea of simplicity, and the conclusion I’ve come to is that creating it is a lot more complicated than it looks. Behold this elegant vision of an AI-driven future where the chaos of a thousand different interfaces just… disappears. A world where our systems simply talk to an AI, and all the messy specifics are handled. Sounds great on the surface, doesn’t it? But what’s really happening is we’re just adding another layer to the digital cake.
The conversation that’s been rattling recently is about this new layer, this Model Context Protocol, or MCP. We’ve gone from a world where your software has its data, its logic, and its application, all exposed through a series of specific APIs, to one where we’re going to tack on this new, intelligent intermediary. A new building block in our architecture. It’s a classic case of building a more complex solution to achieve a simpler result for the user. We’re not making things simpler; we’re just shoving all the complexity into a new, single-point-of-contact layer.
Why? The primary benefit, we’re told, is for AI. Instead of an AI having to learn how to speak a thousand different languages to get the weather, find a hotel room, or book a flight, it’ll just have to talk to a handful of expert MCPs. It’s a step forward, sure. The scale advantage is undeniable—going from a thousand one-to-one connections to a single, intelligent one-to-many connection. It promises greater efficiency, a smaller data footprint, and easier integration for new players. All good things, on paper.
But the reality, the irony that would make even Sisyphus sigh, is that this creates a new, incredibly profitable business model. Likely every single software provider will probably end up needing one of these in their stack. Why would they give up that control? So, in the short term, the elegant vision of one industry-wide MCP collapses into a messy reality of hundreds, maybe thousands, of provider-specific MCPs. Each one is a new revenue stream, a new layer to charge for, a new way to lock in a customer. Nothing is free, least of all simplicity. The money will flow from a new master API to the new MCP layer, likely through a transaction-based fee model, or a subscription, much like a payment processor. It’s a beautiful, intricate plan, built on the premise that our desire for a streamlined front-end will allow for a far more complex and costly back-end.
The brave new world of simplicity, it turns out, is just our old, complex world with another expensive layer on top.
Life is so tech. How many layers would you like on your cake before you eat it?
Mark Fancourt
