MCPs are winning because within the ChatGPT and Claude apps, there are Plugin stores. These plugins are one-click installation MCP servers, with support for authentication. This is what business users are using.
I was anti-MCP at one point when it was eating up a substantial amount of context in Claude code. That’s largely been fixed now.
From my perspective, they are a great way to wrap an API for agent consumption. I can see a future where every major commercial or service website (think airline websites) have an MCP your agent can use to check flight status, rebook, or check you in.
At IMTS at Chicago the skepticism amongst the visitors towards AI and pure-AI startups was at an all-time high. More than once I heard, “Oh yeah I visited that AI booth and they couldn’t explain what value they would add to my business.”
So in that sense, while MCPs are “winning”, I also see them as a significant part of the AI “bubble”, specifically solutions looking for problems backed by VC money.