Artificial intelligence has changed everything. Embrace the future!
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Editor's note: We are experiencing a huge transformation. The genie of artificial intelligence has been released from the bottle and can no longer be put back. When we look back on this decade in the future, it will be like how people in the past viewed electricity or the printing press. It's best not to greet that moment with cynicism or fear: greet it with curiosity, a sense of responsibility, and a firm belief in this bright and embraceable future. This article is from a compilation.
I'm currently working on a new project. Even in the past two months, my way of working has changed profoundly. In the past, I spent most of my time writing code in Cursor, but now I mainly use Claude Code and almost completely let it do the work.
Has my programming speed increased? Actually, it hasn't. But it feels like I have 30% more time every day because the machine is doing the work. My work alternates between giving it instructions, reading books, and checking code modifications. If you had told me six months ago that I'd rather be an engineering supervisor than a virtual programming assistant compared to typing on the keyboard myself, I definitely wouldn't have believed it. Now I can go make a cup of coffee, and the project still progresses. I can take my youngest child to the amusement park while the work continues in the background. Even as I'm writing this blog, Claude is still helping me with some code refactoring.
When all this happens, I find myself lost in thought, thinking about what artificial intelligence means to the world, and I'm becoming more and more optimistic about the future. Obviously, we are experiencing a huge transformation. The genie of artificial intelligence has been released from the bottle and can no longer be put back. Even if we stop all progress immediately today, freeze the weights, and stop training, the existing systems will still reshape the way we live, work, learn, and communicate with each other.
However, what really takes longer to accept is the profoundness of this transformation. As an engineer from a world of certainty, someone who deeply values engineering skills, it took me some time to digest and accept the "chaos" of how agents do things. It even took me a while to start using AI tools at first - just two years ago, I firmly believed that AI might kill my wife. But our progress in the past two years has been amazing. We've reached a stage where even if we stop here (although there's no sign that we will), AI has already become the foundation platform for a large number of new innovations, new ideas, and new creations, and I readily accept this. It has gone beyond being just a novelty tool.
I've never seen a technology integrate into every aspect of daily life so rapidly. In comparison, even the popularization of smartphones seems slow. Nowadays, you can always see someone chatting with ChatGPT during your commute or while having a cup of coffee. I've talked to baristas, hairdressers, and parents at the amusement park (ordinary people who I don't consider "tech-savvy"), and they've told me how AI has reshaped the way they do things - from writing letters, searching for recipes, tutoring their children's homework to translating documents, everything has been affected. The chain reaction it has triggered is already huge. However, most people in the world haven't really accessed these tools yet. Many communities, industries, and even entire economies haven't started exploring how they will be reshaped.
It's this contrast that creates a strange atmosphere at present - half is a surging revolutionary wave, and the other half is the calm before the storm. But what's even more puzzling is that so many technology practitioners are resisting this wave. Why do technology pioneers resist such a transformation? Thomas Ptacek's article titled "My Friends Who Doubt AI Are Crazy" really hits the nail on the head for me. With a humorous tone, it precisely points out the AI resistance sentiment prevalent in my circle. Why do so many people I've respected in the tech industry for years - engineers, open-source contributors - turn out to be the most resistant to the huge changes taking place? We've created something beyond imagination with our own hands, but many people are not only not curious but also contemptuous and even deny its capabilities. What kind of psychology lies behind this?
Of course, its impact is both profound and real. The rapid development forces us to think about important questions: What does this mean for our children's education? If AI can outperform a class of thirty students in teaching, explaining, and personalizing courses, what will the schools we know become? If children grow up expecting to interact with agents - not just absorb content - how should we teach them to use this power to reason, create, and collaborate without becoming overly dependent on it?
On a global scale, its reach is far beyond any previous technological wave. This is different from the rise of search engines or social media - at that time, most other parts of the world were content to be users of the US technological infrastructure. AI technology is more like a fundamental breakthrough like the steam engine: once it emerges, it becomes a historical necessity, and no country can afford to be left out. However, the steam engine technology spread rapidly, and manufacturers imitated each other because its technological advantages were too obvious. In the AI era, every country and every large enterprise will strive to control their own models, gain the upper hand, and seize a place on this strategic high ground of the future.
Therefore, as I switch between assigning tasks to Claude and reading something profound, I can't help but feel excited that we are at the beginning of an irreversible and far-reaching transformation.
I understand why people can easily become cynical or fearful. The jobs of programmers and artists will definitely change, but they won't disappear. I feel that all the skills I've learned as a programmer have become more valuable than ever when paired with this new tool. Similarly, the flood of AI-generated art has made me even more determined to hire an excellent designer as soon as possible. People will always value well-crafted products. AI may raise everyone's standards all at once, but it's careful thinking and deliberate creative actions that will set you apart.
Of course, there may be good reasons for me to stay optimistic personally. But the more I use these tools, the more I believe that optimism is a more reasonable stance for everyone to take. Making good use of AI can greatly enhance human initiative. It can help us communicate across cultures. It can make knowledge acquisition more accessible to the public. It can accelerate innovation in the fields of medicine, science, and engineering.
It's currently chaotic and primitive, but the path is clear: we're no longer just using machines; we're now collaborating with them. It's still early, but I think when we look back on this decade in the future, it will be like how people in the past viewed electricity or the printing press - no longer as something novel, but as the moment when all the changes took place.
Let's abandon cynicism and fear when that moment comes; greet it with burning curiosity, a heavy sense of responsibility, and a firm belief in the bright future that is bound to come and is worth our joint efforts!
Translator: boxi.