I really don't think AI is undermining your competitiveness if you have a unique perspective that other people value. You don't have to build a product that drives a company to IPO, you can just build software that other people value and make yourself a sustainable income.

Great products are built on top of unique perspectives gained through a lifetime of individuation and a lot of time thinking and tinkering and trying. Unfortunately, even before LLMs, tech has been languishing in a lack of vision surrounding the "iterative mindset," where only velocity matters. But as they say: the electric light did not come from the continuous improvement of candles. I'd also note: there are many companies that failed because they went to market too early (I started one where this was the case!).

If all white collar work is dead, then we're all truly fucked, and if that's the case, why not invest your time into what you find beautiful? If that is software, what kind of software would align with your values?

(I ping pong between this perspective and yours also FWIW)

I can also tell you: I've seen a couple vibe coded codebases, and they are scary and unmaintainable. Your decades of experience is still valuable, don't let the non-technical idea people talk you out of your value.