Chamber President Shares Thoughts on Recent Viral Update on AI

Dave Eckmann, President and CEO of the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce recently shared a link to a viral blog post from Matt Shumer. The post warns of the rapidly advancing pace of artificial intelligence (AI) and alerts those who are not following the topic of the likely impacts.

"The article is lengthy, so I had ChatGPT develop an executive summary," said Eckmann. "I recently had a conversation with those deeply involved in AI locally ... this is real and it is moving fast."

Read the full post from Shumer here and the summary below:

The author argues that society is in a “this seems overblown” phase of an AI transformation that is far larger and faster than most people realize—comparable to the early days of COVID-19, when normal life appeared stable just weeks before it radically changed.

Drawing on firsthand experience in the AI industry, the author contends that recent advances—particularly new model releases from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic—mark a fundamental shift rather than incremental progress. The latest systems (e.g., GPT-5.3 Codex and Claude Opus 4.6) can autonomously execute complex, multi-hour professional tasks end-to-end, including writing, testing, and refining software without human intervention. In the author’s experience, AI has already replaced the core technical functions of their job.

A key inflection point is that AI is now helping build the next generation of AI systems, creating a compounding feedback loop. According to industry leaders such as Dario Amodei, this acceleration could lead to systems surpassing most humans at most cognitive tasks within the next one to five years. Internal AI performance metrics (e.g., measured task autonomy duration) have been doubling roughly every several months, suggesting exponential rather than linear improvement.

The author argues this wave differs from prior automation because it targets general cognitive work, not a narrow skill set. As a result, most white-collar professions—including law, finance, software engineering, writing, medicine, and consulting—face significant disruption. Entry-level roles are particularly vulnerable. Unlike past technological shifts, AI improves simultaneously across domains, leaving fewer “safe” adjacent roles to retrain into.

Public perception significantly lags reality. Many people judge AI based on outdated or free-tier tools that are substantially less capable than current frontier models. Meanwhile, early adopters in senior roles across industries are already integrating AI deeply into workflows and gaining competitive advantage.

The author’s recommendations:

1. 1. Engage immediately – Use advanced, paid AI tools and apply them directly to real work, not just simple queries.
   2. Experiment aggressively – Dedicate consistent time (e.g., one hour daily) to pushing AI into increasingly complex tasks.
   3. Position strategically – Lean into roles involving trust, relationships, physical presence, regulatory accountability, and leadership—areas likely to be slower to automate.
   4. Build financial resilience – Increase savings and reduce inflexible obligations in anticipation of volatility.
   5. Teach adaptability – Encourage the next generation to become AI-native, curious, and flexible rather than optimizing for traditional career paths.
   6. Embrace upside – Use AI to build, create, and learn in ways previously blocked by skill or cost barriers.

Beyond employment, the author highlights broader geopolitical and societal stakes. AI systems approaching or exceeding human-level intelligence across domains could dramatically accelerate scientific progress (e.g., medicine) but also pose risks in national security, bioengineering, and governance.

The central message: this is not a distant or hypothetical disruption. It has already begun in technical fields and is rapidly expanding outward. The advantage lies with those who engage early, adapt quickly, and treat this moment not with denial, but with urgency and curiosity.

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