AI Hasn't Changed Anything Yet
It's October of 2026, and AI hasn't changed anything yet.
It should have by now. But it hasn't. I can hear the changes coming and I can look around and see that everyone else is anticipating them too. But as of today, nothing.
Nothing's changed?
Okay, one thing has. But only one.
I now have a tool that can get certain things done for me very quickly.
But it can only get things done that I could already have done myself, and only in the same ways I would have done them myself.
And that's weird.
What hasn't changed?
Everything!
I work from a computer
I complete Linear tickets
I push code up to GitHub
Coworkers review my code
Code goes through CI
I look for performance optimizations
I get pinged about bugs
Clients ask about features
I write documentation
I use the same software
Chrome, macOS, Slack, Linear
OK, here's proof
If you were to transport me back to 2020, to the actual job I was working, and gave me Claude Code, but told me that I couldn't tell anyone about it... then what? My team would have been impressed with how much work I was getting done, but not a single one of them would suspect that I had a magic AI service that can get me any answer.
I bet I would still have had to argue that my code was right, or at my stylistic choices made sense, or that I'd thought through my decisions. I'd be a better developer, sure, but no one would notice. No one would think "Tom's become a 10x developer". If anything, they'd think "Tom's been copying stuff off Stack Overflow".
More proof nothing's changed
Are you impressed with the exciting new things your coworkers can do? Do you find it incredible how people are able to do things they could never do before?
I bet you're not!
Because no one can do anything they couldn't already do. Only software developers can push production code. Only designers can design good things. Disorganized people are still disorganized. Hard workers still outwork slackers. Everyone is still doing the same things they always did!
If things had changed, I wouldn't have to tell my friends "things have changed". They just know!
If things had changed, I wouldn't be getting a PDF school newsletter that I can't read on mobile, or having to log in to my bank's terrible website to pay my water bill manually, or searching Google for pumpkin patches.
Nothing has changed!
But change is coming
I can feel the change coming. I can hear it, especially at night. It's out there. I think it is.