Something Big Is Happening. AI is changing the world.
Even after years of explosive growth, perspectives on AI remain starkly divided.
On one side, people still dismiss it based on their experiences from 2024, saying, “I tried it, and it wasn’t that impressive,” or “It still has a long way to go.” On the other side, however—especially those on the front lines—people are trembling in silence. They may even be feeling a sense of dread (I find myself leaning toward the latter). They are saying, “This has moved beyond being just a tool,” and “The rules of the game are changing completely.”
Over the past few months, I’ve come to see this gap not merely as a difference in opinion, but as a dangerous signal stemming from an “asymmetry of information and experience.” The gap between tinkering with a free chatbot and witnessing the performance of the latest paid models in a business context is now a chasm—they are effectively different worlds.
The piece I’m introducing today is an essay by Matt Shumer that lays bare this inflection point. As an AI founder and investor, he warns us about the reality of the “massive wave” we are facing as of February 2026, with a tone that is both specific and urgent.
