How Do I Feel About AI in 2026?

Well, at first, I wasn’t one of those people who welcomed AI with open arms. I absolutely hated those overwhelming, busy, and grotesque pictures people made of themselves with AI.

I gave AI chatbots a few chances, but they weren’t that good at the time. I had also used a few AI assistants for coding before the actual boom, so I wasn’t that hyped about AI. Actually, I kind of got mad; not because AI was getting better, but because people started to actually use it for everything in the wrong way.

They basically did every step with AI and expected the results to be as impressive as the detailed, hard-earned work a person could produce. I remember that around that time, I was responsible for interviewing new people for the team, and I got a ton of AI-slop emails and resumes which I wasn’t able to check. I gave candidates tasks, and some people didn’t even bother reviewing the AI-generated answers before submitting them.

I opened social media like LinkedIn or Twitter, or even blogs, and suddenly everything was filled with AI slop. My coworkers would reply to me with AI-generated stuff that made no sense, and worst of all, people started treating answers from LLM chatbots as literal facts and even referencing them. So yes, I wasn’t a fan of the culture around using AI, and I’m still not.

But after I started using it to improve and speed up my own work, I became more interested in it. Also got curious about the logic behind how it works. I started reading more about AI challenges, especially bias and hallucinations, and how they can lead models to produce misleading or incorrect answers. That’s also one of the main reasons I started my master’s thesis around AI limitations and challenges.

Now, fast forward a few years, and I use AI for almost everything. I have AI subscriptions, local models running on my machines, and I even retouched this post with the help of AI assistants. At some point, I accepted that things had changed, and I try not to fight changes that genuinely improve efficiency and the quality of human life.

At the same time, I worry about many things. Many jobs could disappear or become heavily automated through AI tools, including parts of my own job. The value of academic knowledge and professional expertise is becoming less and less clear, and that occasionally gives me cold feet about following through on my intention to continue research and pursue a PhD.

Although some people might see these concerns as coming from insecurity, I don’t think that’s really the case for me. I see myself as a generalist engineer, not simply a coder, and I’ve always been open to switching careers or exploring something new. As a software developer, I’ve gotten used to learning on a daily basis just to stay relevant. For me, the bigger issue is the uncertainty of the situation. It’s also becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the constant waves of new technology, tools, and ideas appearing every day.

But the main concern I’ve had since the early days is the culture around using AI, and how easily that can lead to misuse, as recent reports from Anthropic have also shown.

Honestly, unlike many of the trends and conspiracy theories surrounding AI and the companies behind it, I mostly see those as part of marketing competition and power struggles. Despite all of that, I’m genuinely optimistic about a future where AI can make human life much easier.