If the things created with AI lack originality, they are nothing more than clones, rather than prototypes. While I agree with the majority of the text, I really don't understand why the amateurish efforts of so many are taken so seriously, to the point where people actually obsess over them. The marketing of these outputs by individuals or organizations with no prior connection to the industry (especially on platforms like YouTube, Reddit, HackerNews, etc.) is driven solely by self-interest. These ideas only excite the laypeople and the naive. For a professional or anyone who actually knows how things work, these are—as the name implies—just tools for now, not the be-all and end-all.

In real terms a product is the delivery of a service or other item of value. Specifically within the realm of software it is the promise of the delivery of software that will do what it says it will do, and then maintain or fix it where it falls short.

E.g. it's now about the delivery of a service rather than the challenge of building it (e.g. the moat) and then the delivery of service of it afterwards. Non functional requirements like data management and security, legal requirements and hosting are still valuable things that aren't front of mind for most developers creating their own tooling.

But is the definition of the product really just something that has loads of users. If so than the best "product engineers" are just people with gigantic following since every url they share would get traction.

Imo a better distinguisher of demos and products is: "is your thing CAPABLE of solving a real problem" (even if it isn't doing so at a scale atm). Google+ was a product (not a super successfull one), eventhough it didn't have many users. Conversely, a viral interactive gimmick can attract millions of users in a day without really being a product at all.

A product is just a software output packaged for sale. Most products these days are actually services, where delivery of the application is as important as its development. One man’s prototype is another man’s MVP. You can’t No True Scotsman your way into discounting the fact that low quality software can still make money.

A miserable pile of requirements!

Since everyone has access to the same tools, what exactly has changed about building a new business? Are people really expecting brand new companies to just displace the existing ones? What separates one company from another looks the same as always to me risk tolerance, etc. Now with the added benefit of a lot more competitors, plenty of who can't actually execute, all making noise in the market.

For a second I thought this was going to be about abstract-algebra/category-theory

A product is something you can pitch to an investor for money. All else is irrelevant.

Why hasn't someone upended LinkedIn? It is not because the product is incomplete. It is because LinkedIn is the incumbent with millions of users and an ecosystem and culture and gravity around it.

The most successful products are Cartesian.