Every time I get pulled into a conversation with someone who is an extreme AI skeptic in this latter half of 2026, it’s eventually revealed that their only experience is one of:

1. The AI box at the top of Google

2. The voice assistance on their phone when they tried it a long time ago. Some question they asked Siri in 2025 and got a bad answer for.

3. ChatGPT free tier.

For a while you’d find someone who got assigned an AI tool at work but their administrator limited them to the cheapest model for cost savings, but most companies are wising up.

I also talked to a developer last month whose company had never let them use anything beyond Sonnet. When I told him I used Opus for everything his eyes went wide because he assumed I was spending thousands of dollars per month. However now that the latest Sonnet is very good, even this category of exposure is decreasing.

I think in 2027 as advanced models become more common we’ll see less of these claims about AI not working well when they tried it. There will be holdout group of people who refuse to try anything new, but the world is moving on.