It's not really a tool like any we've used before. A screwdriver screws. A drill drills. AI does millions.
Published Jun 25, 2026
Author Steve Berry
It's not really a tool like any we've used before. A screwdriver screws. A drill — drills. Every tool I've ever picked up only does a few things. AI does millions! Point it at almost anything and it takes the shape of the job. It's shapeless. We've never held something like it.
In the right hands it's fucking amazing to watch.
I've cut plenty of wood with a chainsaw. So if someone dumped a block of ice on my driveway, and I still had a chainsaw, I'd take a swing at carving it. Competition-worthy? N-O-P-E. Pride would sneak into my smile. Look at what I had no business creating! I'd show all my friends.
Then someone who does it for a living walks by, pats me on the head, and keeps moving.
With AI, I'm the one walking by you now. You hold up the thing you had no business creating, grinning, showing it to anyone who'll look — and I pat your head and keep moving.
I've worn that exact grin. I got lucky: a polymath background, turned designer that codes. That shapeless tool in my hands is a superpower. I can do almost literally anything. I just need time.
And that's a weird feeling.