Is AI absorbing all the vertical sectors?

Recently, I have read a post by Andy Tang and I really like his concept of “convergence” because it explains something I’ve been noticing everywhere: AI is no longer just a standalone sector. It is becoming the layer that absorbs and upgrades every other sector.

A year ago, people talked about AI as an enabling technology for biotech, crypto, deeptech, education, space, and healthcare. Now it feels like AI is not just helping those industries; it is becoming part of their core DNA. Andy described this as the “first step of full convergence,” where previously separate verticals start becoming categories inside the bigger AI transformation.

And honestly, that makes so much sense.

The next generation of startups will probably not be labelled neatly as “biotech,” “fintech,” “deeptech,” or “space.” They will be messy, hybrid creatures. A biotech company may also be an AI infrastructure company. A space startup may also be an energy company. A crypto startup may also be a financial access platform. Basically, startup categories are having an identity crisis — and I love it.

This is also why “AI startup” is becoming a much broader term. It does not only mean building chatbots or LLM wrappers. It can mean using AI to discover drugs, automate legal workflows, optimise satellite infrastructure, personalise education, or build autonomous scientific research systems.

The interesting part is that convergence makes investing harder but also more exciting. Investors can no longer look at sectors in isolation. The real question becomes: what happens when multiple technologies compound together?

AI x biotech could make personalised medicine scalable. AI x deeptech could accelerate space, robotics, energy, and advanced manufacturing. AI x crypto could create new coordination and ownership models. AI x education could make high-quality learning accessible to anyone with enough curiosity and WiFi.

This is why I think “convergence” is such a powerful word. It captures the shift from single-sector innovation to cross-sector compounding.

My takeaway

The next wave of iconic companies may not fit cleanly into one category. They will sit at the intersection of multiple technologies, markets, and behaviours, providing an end-to-end solution.

So maybe the future is not “AI versus every other sector.”

Maybe the future is: everything becomes AI-adjacent, AI-enabled, or AI-native.