It won

New models arrive so fast, we already have more new tech than it's possible to understand in a career

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Why are we in such a hurry? Are we in a race? Where's the finish line? Are we in the lead? Far behind?

That feeling has become worse since last November when AI tools suddenly became "good enough" to be broadly useful. A whole cohort of engineers – myself included – found themselves infused with manic energy, bursting with ideas on how to prompt up tools and processes with this wonderful new toy.

Usage exploded – as has revenue. The AI firms, finally on a path to something vaguely suggestive of profitability, leaned in and increased their release cadence. Every new model felt like Christmas.

Each new model delivers a quick dopamine hit to users, but the high wears off and the slump arrives.

If that's the view from inside the AI bubble, how does it look on the outside? Not so great. The Wall Street Journal confidently reports that 63 percent of Americans favor an immediate pause or slowdown in AI development. They can see this technology is moving too fast, in too manic a rush, and without control. It's making them uneasy.

Bringing new, better, shinier AI models to market has become a project of diminishing returns. Not because the models have plateaued, but because the culture has. We simply can't process any more AI.