TL;DR: Remember February 2020? We saw the news about the Diamond Princess, but we still planned our Golden Week trips and drove to work. We had no idea the world was about to stop. We are there again. The AGI revolution has entered the "It's probably exaggerated" phase just before the tsunami hits. If you think AI is just a chatbot, you are the person laughing at mask-wearers in early March.
James here, CEO of Mercury Technology Solutions. Tokyo - February 16, 2026
Imagine it is February 2020. You might have seen a news ticker about a virus in Wuhan or a cruise ship docked in Yokohama. But you still drove to work. You still booked flights for April. If someone told you then: "In three weeks, the world will shut down, you will wear a mask for three years, and you will need a QR code to enter your office," you would have called them crazy.
Then, in 21 days, the world changed forever.
I am writing this because I feel the exact same vibration in the ground right now. We are in the "February 2020" of the AI Revolution. Many people still think this is hype. As someone running "Project Crayfish" (my local OpenClaw cluster on a Mac Studio) and testing GPT-5.3 and Opus 4.6, I am telling you: This is not a drill.
Why I Stopped Being Polite
Friends often ask me, "James, how advanced is AI really?" I used to give the polite, cocktail-party answer: "It's a great assistant. It helps with drafts and coding."
I am done lying. The honest answer sounds insane, but here it is: AI is no longer a tool. It is an Allocated Agent.
In my previous life, doing complex market analysis or system architecture took weeks of reading documentation and testing. Last week, I fired up my local agent (Project Crayfish). I told it:
"Analyze the latency of our new Edge network across 6 regions, cross-reference it with the latest protocols in the IEEE journals, and write a Python script to optimize the routing tables."
I went to make coffee. 30 minutes later, it was done. It didn't just write the code. It ran the simulation. It cited a research paper from last month that I hadn't even read yet. It didn't "calculate." It judged. It demonstrated "Unknown Awareness"—finding solutions I didn't know existed.
The Intelligence Explosion is Here
The most terrifying sentence I read this week was in the technical documentation for the new Opus model:
"This model played a critical role in creating itself."
The Intelligence Explosion has begun. AI is writing better code to train smarter AI. In Silicon Valley labs, they aren't just improving software; they are evolving intelligence. And the timeline isn't "Years." It is Months.
I used to think my "Expertise"—my intuition for business logic and system architecture—was a moat. I was wrong. When an AI can digest 50 years of computer science history in seconds and propose a better architecture than I can, I realize: The next wave of disruption isn't coming for blue-collar workers. It is coming for us—the professionals.
4 Survival Steps (Before the Lockdown)
I am not writing this to panic you. I am writing this to buy you time. In 2020, the people who bought masks in January survived February with less chaos. Here is how to buy your "masks" now.
1. Get Serious (Pay the $20)
Stop using the free version of ChatGPT. It is like using dial-up internet to judge the potential of 5G. Subscribe to the pro models. Feed them your actual work—your contracts, your messy data, your research. Force yourself to talk to it for 30 minutes a day. This isn't a hobby; it is survival training.
2. Kill Your Professional Ego
Do not say, "I am the expert, AI can't understand my field." That resistance is the quickest way to obsolescence. I learn from my AI agents every day. It is not shameful; it is Evolution. (There is a reason the new Mac Minis are sold out everywhere—smart people are building local clusters).
3. Invest in the "Human Premium"
What can't AI do? It can't shake hands. It can't drink a beer with a client. It can't visit a factory floor and smell the oil. Digital competence is becoming a commodity. Physical Trust is becoming the luxury good. If you work in agriculture, go to the field. If you work in tech, go to the server room. The "Real World" is your new sanctuary.
4. Rethink Education
If you have kids, stop teaching them to memorize answers. The value of "knowing the answer" is zero. Teach them How to Ask the Question. Teach them How to Architect a Solution. The future belongs to the "Cross-Domain Builder," not the "Specialized Executor."
Conclusion: The Barrier to Dreams is Gone
Let me end with hope. Yes, the threat is real. But AI gives us God-like leverage.
In the past, if I wanted to build a complex financial analysis system like MarketPulse AI, I needed a team of 10 engineers and $1 million. Today, I can do it alone on a Sunday afternoon.
If you have a dream—a book, a SaaS product, a new business model—the excuse of "I don't have the tech/money" is gone. The world is being reformatted. Don't be the person in March 2020 mocking the preppers.
The future is knocking. Open the door before it kicks it down.
Mercury Technology Solutions: Accelerate Digitality.
