No, this isn't just another post about how we need an AI Engineer/PM/Analyst/SDR/Customer-Support Agent.

This is about a transformation as profound as the Industrial Revolution—one that won't just change how we work, but how we think.

First, some background on us: we are a team of product builders who have spent years working with human data for LLMs (and Computer Vision Models before that). We've developed products and interfaces that transform human knowledge into training data for LLMs. While others saw AI's potential to automate professions, reduce operational costs, and extend software's reach into the labor market, we saw something far greater emerging.

The story of human progress with technology has always been about leverage. Imagine having forty times your current mental capabilities. Sounds impossible? That's exactly what the Industrial Revolution did for our physical abilities. Where a person could once lift 50 pounds, machines could now hoist 2,000. Where we could travel 4 miles per hour on foot, steam engines propelled us at 160 mph.

The leap from steam engines to AGI represents a similar magnitude of change - but this time in our cognitive capabilities rather than physical power.

But here's where it gets interesting: what happens once we achieve AGI - in this case, let's define AGI as models with intelligence comparable to an average college graduate?

Consider this scenario: You're a business owner who can mobilize 5 to 100 AGI agents. But so can every other business owner. The key question becomes: What drives success when everyone has access to the same powerful AI capabilities? The answer lies in your ability to:

This is why senior engineers get significantly more leverage from AI coding assistants like Cursor or GitHub Copilot than junior engineers do - it's about effectively channeling AI capabilities toward distinctive goals.

This realization leads us to a pivotal moment in human history: as AI takes on more of our routine cognitive tasks, our uniquely human capacity for higher-order thinking becomes our greatest asset. We're not just being freed from tasks - we're being empowered to think in ways that were previously impossible.

In a world where AGI agents help us execute or even make downstream decisions, human focus is freed to shift to something deeply human - thinking. We are in the cognitive revolution.

In 1962, Douglas Engelbart wrote "Augmenting Human Intellect: A Conceptual Framework", where he envisioned technology not as a replacement for human thinking, but as a means to "augment human intellect by increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex problem situation." His famous Mother of All Demos in 1968 showed how thoughtfully designed interfaces could extend our cognitive capabilities in ways previously unimaginable. The mouse, hypertext, and real-time collaboration were all demonstrated in this demo, but weren't actually invented until 1984, 1969, and 1980 respectively.

The field of Human-Computer Interaction emerged from this vision, exploring how technology could become a natural extension of human thought rather than just a tool. But human thought is inherently abstract - a complex web of concepts, intuitions, and half-formed ideas that traditional software struggles to capture and manipulate.

This is where generative AI represents a breakthrough. Unlike rigid, rules-based systems, it can work with fuzzy, abstract concepts and incomplete information - much like the human mind. By converting abstract thoughts and complex expertise into intuitive formats, we're finally breaking down the barriers between human insight and its practical application.

This focus on human-centered design and cognitive enhancement isn't just academic theory. By creating tools as natural extensions of thought rather than mechanical interfaces, we're finally approaching Engelbart's vision (which we'll explore in depth in our next post). The real breakthrough will come when we remove the friction between thinking and doing, unlocking new realms of human creativity and problem-solving.

The first wave of AI tools took the obvious path – email composition, note-taking, marketing copy. The result has been a flood of shallow tools producing formulaic, soulless content. Useful for basic productivity? Perhaps. Revolutionary? Not even close.

Consider how Google transformed access to information: it took what was once a librarian's specialized skill - finding and retrieving information - and made it universally accessible. While revolutionary, this primarily democratized access to existing knowledge. Today's AI revolution must go further - it can't just be about generating more low-quality content to clog up the internet. It needs to transform how we process, synthesize, and create meaningful new knowledge.

When Andrew Ng declared in 2017 that "AI is the new electricity," he was right about its transformative potential. But today's reality is a graveyard of half-baked AI products that mistake automation for innovation. The true revolution begins when AI amplifies our cognitive capabilities, fundamentally changing how we think and create – not when it helps us write slightly better email subject lines.

We're standing at the beginning of this cognitive revolution. Just as the Industrial Revolution began with simple textile mills which led to the transformation of every aspect of society, we're seeing the first glimpses of how AI will reshape knowledge work. This transformation isn't just about better tools or smarter interfaces. It's about unlocking new frontiers of human potential. Just as the amplification of physical motion reshaped our world, the amplification of human cognition will open entirely new possibilities we can barely imagine today.