As we approach the end of 2025, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re living in two different timelines at once.

On one side, there are those of us who use AI daily, not just as a tool but as an essential part of our workflow, creativity, and problem solving. For us, the last two years have been a blur of breakthroughs. We’ve watched GPT 4.0 become normal, then watched 4.5, 5.0, and beyond roll in with startling leaps. We’ve played with Gemini, Grok, and Claude, and we’ve already built habits around their growing intelligence.

On the other side is the wider business world, and frankly, most of the world in general. For them, AI is still mostly “a faster Google.” It’s a convenient search engine, a way to draft an email, maybe an occasional brainstorming partner. They are still living in a GPT 4.0 mindset, many not even stretching the limits of that model.

That gap is about to widen into a canyon.

The Cliff and the Rocket Ship

What’s coming in 2026 will not be incremental. It will not be linear. It will be exponential. Models will double again in reasoning, memory, multi-modality, and integration with real-world systems. And the people who haven’t been experimenting, stretching, and practicing with AI every day are going to find themselves standing at the edge of a cliff.

Some will fall off. The pace of AI adoption will accelerate so sharply that by the time they try to catch up, the toolset and the norms will already have shifted again.

Others will strap on a rocket ship. They will treat AI fluency as a core skill, not a hobby. They will bring it into every workflow, every creative process, every decision. For them, the cliff becomes a launchpad.

This moment may also be the only real window for individuals to level themselves up, to take the red pill of adoption and habit-building, and to sharpen their skills with these tools before the tide rises too fast. Those who choose to ignore it risk being swallowed by the next wave of models and capabilities, unable to onboard quickly enough when the pace accelerates further.

Where to Bridge the Gap: Expertise First

The real differentiator will not just be knowing how to use ChatGPT, Anthropic, Gemini, or whatever new model lands next. The differentiator will be how you connect these tools to your domain expertise. Every industry and every vertical has its unique language, processes, and nuances. The people who bring AI fluency into their field and use it to amplify their professional expertise will become leaders. It is not about chasing every new feature. It is about closing the gap between your subject matter mastery and AI capability so that you stand out in your space.

Grounding the Opportunity

It helps to remember just how early we are. Right now, maybe 1% of people use AI deeply and well. That means the competitive landscape is wide open. You do not need to push your entire organization to 100% adoption to unlock massive advantage. If you can raise your team, your company, or even your immediate circle to 10 or 15% fluency, you will be light years ahead of competitors who are still treating AI as a novelty.

That is the grounding perspective: the baseline is so low that even modest adoption creates outsized gains. You do not need perfection, you need momentum. A little progress, multiplied across people and workflows, places you in a leadership position while most of the world is still asleep.

2026: What to Expect

Deeper integration: AI will not live in chat windows anymore. It will be embedded invisibly in enterprise systems, productivity suites, and industry-specific tools.

Personalized agents: We will see persistent, memory-driven assistants that know your style, your data, your business context, and act almost like colleagues.

Exponential upskilling: Fields like coding, law, medicine, and research will feel seismic shifts as AI becomes a first-pass problem solver. The cost of “knowing” will drop, the value of “judgment” will rise.

Winners and laggards: The businesses and individuals that practice with AI now will leap ahead. Those who do not will struggle to catch up when the cliff becomes a canyon.

The Moment We’re In

This moment is transitional and critical. The world is mostly sleeping on what is about to arrive. The bubble of power users is small, but what we’re seeing foreshadows an acceleration the mainstream is not prepared for.

The choice is stark: build fluency now, tie it to your expertise, raise adoption around you, and ride the rocket. Otherwise, face the cliff later.