In some parts of society, using AI has already become normal. But across the whole of society, it’s far from widespread.
I think that gap is significant.
I still remember the first time I wrote HTML in the late 1990s. Learning the tags, writing everything by hand in a text editor, uploading it via FTP, and checking it in a browser. That simple process felt strangely exciting.
It gave me the sense that I was “making something move.”
Installing bulletin boards with CGI, sharing files over the internet—there was this gradual feeling that I was beginning to understand how to “use the web.”
Back then, there was a clear divide between people who could and couldn’t use it. But that boundary kept fading, and before long, everyone was online.
AI is in that exact phase now.
We’re still thinking about prompt techniques, or which model is better at what. But that will soon blur. Asking an AI to do something will feel as natural as choosing from a menu at a café.
Come to think of it, the iPhone was similar. When it first came out in 2007, it was seen as a device for geeks. But just a few years later, everyone was using one.
People who used smartphones and those who didn’t.
People who used the internet and those who didn’t.
People who used steam engines and those who didn’t.
Transformations arrive quickly—sometimes dramatically.
But when you’re in the middle of one, it’s hard to recognize it’s even happening.
AI will be the same.
Only in hindsight will we realize how deeply it had already embedded itself into society.
Using AI isn’t something amazing.
It’s just a useful tool, something that becomes part of daily life.
That era already began a few years ago.
And soon, we’ll look back and finally recognize it for what it is.