Our moment

Around the end of December 2025, something quietly shifted in our AI moment. Anthropic released Opus 4.5, and since then has upgraded its model to Opus 4.6. OpenAI has followed suit with GPT-Codex-5.3. Along the way, CLI coding clients like Claude Code, Codex, and GitHub Copilot CLI have gained increased capabilities to match these stunning models. Then, OpenClaw released along with the moltbook.com experiment. The latter presented a bizarre and almost dystopian reality of agents speaking to each other with minimal cogency.

It’s an unsettling time. There are breathless takes about how AI is disrupting the white-collar workforce - only to be met with equal takes trying to assuage the reader’s fears. Stock markets are jittery. We now have emerging terms for this growing existential concern. And to top it off, new research from Harvard shows that AI doesn’t grant increased productivity, but makes us just work more, which leads to burnout.

Personally, these past few weeks have felt like I’m stuck in a whirlpool. One day I’m listening to podcasts and reading articles about the latest LLMs, and building new apps with joy. The next day, I worry about what these rapid changes mean for humanity’s future. Along the way, I might come up for air and have some real clarity. Then I’m stuck in it again, only for the cycle to repeat.

The salve

The truth is, no one knows what the future holds or even exactly what it will look like. And of course we hear the phrase “you have to learn these tools” as guidance for what to do next (tools being ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude Code, etc.) but that answer is increasingly trite, and honestly, table stakes.

Ultimately, this moment is out of our control. AI isn’t going away, it’ll only get more powerful. And we still don’t know how it’ll shape humanity. It’ll have some positive impact, and some negative. As an optimist, I believe it will be more positive than negative. But I find peace using the Serenity Prayer [1] from 12-step programs:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference."

It’s important to find peace with the things we cannot change: the unrelenting pace of new AI models, the open-source tools that shock the scene, the news articles, hot takes, etc. Try to find your own way.

So what can we change? I’ve tried to adopt a new practice:

• One day a week, try not to use any AI at all.
• Disconnect from podcasts, YouTube, Twitter, and other media that would have opinions on AI.

Ideas on what to do instead of thinking about AI:

• Walk your dog, if you have one.
• Spend quality time with a loved one: cook a new meal, play a board game, or chat about life on the couch with a cup of coffee.
• Walk to your local coffee shop and strike up a conversation with the barista.
• Invite a friend out for lunch.
• Visit your local bookshop or library and browse for a while. Try something new.
• Exercise.
• Watch that movie that you’ve been putting off.
• Call a friend or family member that you haven’t spoken to in a while.
• Work on your non-tech craft, whether that’s something like knitting, running, music, or something else.

On that last point, if you don’t have a non-tech craft, I think now is the time to find one. For me, running has been a throughline of my life through which I find community, mental clarity, personal achievement, and health. But do whatever works for you.

I’m struck by this video I stumbled across from Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++. He advocates for having a life outside of computing. And he’s not really talking about AI here, but computing in general. If, like me, you find yourself often thinking about your software side project or something programming related at work, then know there’s more to life than computing.

And of course, computing and coding with AI can be fun. There’s plenty of discourse on how having Claude Code or Copilot churn out code is addictive. But just like other fun and potentially addictive things in life, we must have a balance.

The digital era of humanity is relatively new for us, and the change is striking. To avoid that feeling of being stuck in a whirlpool, we need to simply come to shore and take a break once in a while.

[1] In 12-step programs, God isn’t necessarily a religious figure, but a stand-in word that denotes having a higher power and a spiritual awareness to guide you through periods of difficulty.