The claim that “SaaS is dead” is imprecise.

What is being disrupted is not SaaS as a category, but a class of products that are little more than CRUD wrappers over a database. If the entire value proposition is forms + tables + dashboards, AI agents can generate, replace, or bypass that layer.

But foundational systems of record are not disappearing. They are becoming more important.

Systems that manage orders, financial state, logistics networks, healthcare credentials, compliance artifacts, contracts, supply chains, risk models — these are not disposable CRUD apps. They encode durable semantics. They carry operational consequences. They are embedded in workflows, contracts, and regulatory frameworks.

Those systems are not replaced by AI. They are amplified by it.

The shift is not AI replacing SaaS.

It is SaaS rebuilt with AI as a first-class collaborator.

Cohesive exists for that shift.

• The Real Problem with Most SaaS
• A New Semantic Substrate
• SaaS in the Age of AI
• From CRUD to Systems of Record
• Building SaaS Without Drowning in Technical Debt
• The Future of SaaS
• References

The Real Problem with Most SaaS

Traditional SaaS stacks fragment the system:

• Database schema
• Backend services
• API layer
• Frontend models
• Search indices
• Background jobs
• Analytics projections
• Integrations

Each layer re-expresses the same domain in a slightly different way. Each layer drifts. Each change introduces translation work.

The result:

• Accumulating technical debt
• Increasing coupling
• Slower iteration
• Fragile AI integrations

AI does not fix this fragmentation. It accelerates it unless the underlying substrate is coherent.

A New Semantic Substrate

Cohesive introduces a different approach.

Instead of starting with tables, services, and endpoints, it starts with semantics.

• Entities and state transitions
• Relations and projections
• Invariants and constraints
• Durable processes
• Execution semantics

From that semantic core, everything else is derived:

• Database representations
• APIs
• Event streams
• Search projections
• Materialized views
• UI contracts

Backend, frontend, and storage are no longer separate silos. They are projections of the same semantic model. This is a different level of abstraction. Not an ORM. Not a framework. Not a collection of microservices. A unified semantic system.

SaaS in the Age of AI

Large language models can:

• Generate code
• Translate between languages
• Draft integrations
• Suggest schema changes

But they struggle with ambiguity and fragmented systems. AI is most powerful when operating against a structured, deterministic substrate. Cohesive provides that substrate.

Instead of asking an AI agent to modify:

• SQL migrations
• DTOs
• Controllers
• React models
• Background jobs

You operate at the semantic layer:

• Add a field.
• Define a transition.
• Declare a projection.
• Specify an invariant.

The rest compiles deterministically. This is how SaaS becomes AI-native. Just as programmers are not replaced by AI — but by programmers using AI — SaaS products are not replaced by AI. They are replaced by SaaS built with AI and a coherent semantic foundation.

From CRUD to Systems of Record

Trivial CRUD systems are vulnerable because they encode no durable semantics.

Foundational SaaS systems encode:

• State evolution
• Multi-entity coordination
• Historical lineage
• Business invariants
• Cross-store joins
• Long-running processes

Cohesive makes these first-class. Instead of layering business rules on top of persistence, the rules are part of the semantic model. Execution becomes a projection of declared intent.

This dramatically reduces:

• Glue code
• Mapping layers
• Duplicate definitions
• Hidden coupling

And it increases:

• Evolvability
• Observability
• Determinism
• AI-assisted extension

Building SaaS Without Drowning in Technical Debt

The core promise is simple:

Focus on customer value.

Let semantics drive everything else.

Cohesive unifies:

• Domain modeling
• Projection and indexing
• Durable process orchestration
• API surface generation
• Cross-store query semantics

When the semantic layer is authoritative:

• Refactors are localized.
• Integrations are systematic.
• Projections are incremental or rebuildable.
• AI agents operate safely and predictably.

This is not incremental improvement. It is a structural simplification of how SaaS systems are built.

The Future of SaaS

The SaaS products that survive the AI era will share traits:

• Clear semantic cores
• Deterministic execution
• Explicit state transitions
• Systematic projections
• AI-ready specifications

Cohesive is designed to make that architecture natural. SaaS is not dying. Undisciplined CRUD systems are. Foundational systems of record — built on a coherent semantic substrate and augmented by AI — will define the next decade.

Cohesive is the infrastructure for building them.

References

Case Studies

Cohesive Perspectives

Cohesive Systems Language

Cohesive & AI