Something Big Is Happening

A Practical IC Playbook for the AI Shockwave

Matt Shumer, CEO of OthersideAI and a six-year AI-industry veteran, published Something Big Is Happening on LinkedIn and X on February 11, 2026. The post went viral almost immediately. It compares today to February 2020 and argues we are in the early phase of a much bigger shift driven by AI. The speed, the tone, and the bluntness are why it spread. People are reading it and thinking: this feels dramatic, but it also feels familiar.

This article does two things. First, it summarizes the core claims of Shumer's post in plain language. Second, it turns those claims into practical steps for IC and HR leaders to upskill themselves. Not to write better comms for others. To build their own capability so they can lead through what is coming.

What Shumer actually says

"We are in the 'this seems overblown' phase of something much bigger than COVID."

Shumer makes a few clear arguments:

1. AI progress is compounding, not linear. The gap between model releases is shrinking and the quality jumps are getting larger.
2. Most people are still using outdated mental models. If your last AI test was in 2023 or early 2024, your mental model is wrong.
3. This is not a tech-only shift. Shumer argues that code was the first target because it helps build better AI. The next wave is every knowledge function.
4. People inside the industry already lived the disruption. The post frames the warning as lived experience, not speculation.
5. The advantage goes to the early and the practical. The people using current tools for real work are already moving ahead.

"If it even kind of works today, it will work near perfectly six months from now."

Why this matters to IC and HR leaders

You are a professional translator of change. You cannot do that well if your own understanding of the tools is behind. The central takeaway is not "write an AI policy." The takeaway is build personal fluency fast, then scale it.

Practical upskilling steps you can start this week

1) Run a personal AI sprint, not a committee

Pick one real task you do every week and run it through AI for five days straight. Treat it like training, not experimentation.

Good targets:

• Drafting a leadership update
• Summarizing a long policy or meeting transcript
• Building a first-pass FAQ
• Turning notes into a narrative update

2) Pay for the best model for one month

Shumer makes a simple point: free tools are behind. If you want to judge what is coming, use the paid tier for 30 days and compare results.

3) Keep a side-by-side log

Create a simple two-column doc: "My draft" vs "AI draft." The goal is not to replace yourself. The goal is to learn where the tool is already better and where your judgment still wins.

4) Build a repeatable prompt pattern

Create three prompts that reliably improve your work. Save them, reuse them, and refine them. Here is a starter pattern:

• "Summarize this for frontline employees in 4 bullets."
• "Rewrite this to be 30 percent shorter without losing clarity."
• "Turn these notes into a manager-ready update with a clear ask."

5) Schedule one hour a week for model updates

As Shumer writes, the pace is the point. Add a calendar block and test one new model feature weekly. Treat it like professional development.

6) Teach one thing you learned

Once a week, share a single concrete example with your team. This is how your personal upskilling becomes organizational readiness.

"The people who are ahead in their industries are not dismissing this. They are using it daily."

Built By People tools that make personal upskilling easier

• Guides: Personality-aware communication playbooks for every type of person on your team
• News: Stay current on AI and people leadership without doomscrolling
• Webinars: Deep-dive sessions on compensation strategy, talent operations, and the AI shift
• Assessments: Benchmark your own AI readiness before you try to benchmark others
• Surveys: Ask your team one simple question, not ten

Try Rally — free AI for workplace communications

Rally is a free AI tool built specifically for HR and IC professionals. It delivers 10X engagement on workplace communications by personalizing messages for how each audience actually reads.

If you want hands-on help, schedule a demo with an AI Specialist who understands both the HR/IC domain and the AI tooling. They can walk you through real use cases, show you what's possible today, and help you build a practical adoption plan for your team.

A clean closing you can reuse

"AI is moving fast. My goal this quarter is to get personally fluent, test what works, and share what I learn. If I can do that well, I can help the rest of the team adapt with less noise and more clarity."

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This guide was inspired by Matt Shumer's viral essay Something Big Is Happening, published February 11, 2026. Read the full original for his firsthand account of the shift already underway inside the AI industry.