Ask HN: Are we in the 'Goldilocks era' of AI capabilities?

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[ARTICLE · art-13822] src=news.ycombinator.com pub=2026-05-25T19:59Z topic=artificial-intelligence verified=true sentiment=· neutral

Ask HN: Are we in the 'Goldilocks era' of AI capabilities?

A Hacker News user argues that AI has reached a "Goldilocks" stage where it is capable enough to handle tedious tasks but not yet smart enough to perform the most interesting work, allowing them to focus more on learning and productivity. The user, however, expresses concern that within a year AI may become too capable, and asks others in different fields to assess where they fall on this progression.

read1 min publishedMay 25, 2026

At least for my work, AI is no longer too dumb to handle a lot of the tedium, but also not smart enough to do the interesting stuff. So I am spending more time on the latter, learning more, and getting more done. But I worry that even a year from now, it might be too smart. I've worried about this in the abstract for a while, but it's starting to feel very real, maybe even inevitable.

I'm curious for people with different kinds of work, where are we along this progression? Is it still too dumb, and you would like it to automate more of the boring stuff? Or is it good enough that you wish we could wind the clock back (to when)?.

For the sake of this conversation, let's assume that everyone gets to keep their job; AI just changes what the job is like (though I'm not saying that's what will happen...).

Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270966](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270966)

Points: 1

source & further reading

news.ycombinator.com — original article Ask HN: How is all new software not broken? Show HN: YourMemory, persistent memory layer with temporal reasoning for agents Ask HN: Is it just me or has Gemini enshittified in the last three weeks?