How should we prepare for the changes that AI technology is bringing to our lives and communities?

OpenAI's ChatGPT previewed the future with its chatbot release in late 2022. Anthropic's latest Claude AI takes you there. Why it matters: Claude Opus 4.5 — which powers Anthropic's agent tools, Claude Code for developers and the newly released Cowork — lets anyone quickly turn an idea into a functioning program or app, using plain English. In eight hours, Jim built four apps on his phone — all fully functioning, all beautifully designed and intuitive. "My mind is officially blown in a way it never has been before," he texted Mike on Thursday. We've been building products and companies for 20 years. Any of those apps would have taken multiple people and many weeks to hit this level of design and usability.Jim wanted to create a test to screen for people who'll excel at using AI. He built a 30-question quiz on his phone in two hours, then easily added five-minute training courses for each skill set. Claude shows in vivid and unforgettable ways how easily AI will perform complex human tasks instantly — and forever change work, jobs and chores. Google, OpenAI, xAI and other competitors are racing to match and exceed Claude. You can assume there'll be leapfrogging advancements in this hyper-competitive race.Yes, these AI tools remain imperfect. But when you experiment with them, you'll see they're advancing lightning-fast. The big picture: 2026 seems increasingly likely to be the year AI will go from fascinating aspiration to actual widespread application. Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer, tells us: "The whole waterline in capabilities has risen — everyone who has a boat, whether a big boat or a smaller boat, is rising on this rising tide. The capabilities are moving faster, and we as a society need to move faster if we want as many people as possible to have a fair chance of getting their fair piece of the intelligence age." Inside Jim's test run: I used Claude Opus 4.5, Anthropic's flagship AI, accessed through a $20/month Claude Pro subscription. H