Zhenfeng Cao's 2026 paradigm paper positions AaaS as the third generation after licensed on-prem software (users own install complexity) and SaaS (vendors own infrastructure). In AaaS, the agent absorbs how work gets done; customers specify what result they want. Revenue may shift toward outcome-based pricing (per resolved issue or deployed feature) rather than seat subscriptions. It contrasts with AI-augmented development, where humans still own static code artifacts — AaaS targets Agent-to-Result delivery without a durable software intermediary.