A Takeout on AI as of May 2026

One question to answer: is AI a hype or is it real? with follow up question, how it affects us today?

One thing I can say on IT especially on software development, the short answer is that it is very real and is a MAJOR disruption. While on other field it’s helping people to help with their small task (though I must say not all field), it’s something different in the world of software development. It’s a game changer and maybe (If I want to exaggerate) on par with how theory of relativity change our perspective about gravity or how industrial revolution has changed us.

To get the experience, I’ve been developing an application to help me with managing arisan (a term in Indonesia for gathering between people where people deposit funds and on each gathering there will be drawing who will win the money. It last for few rounds in a period and the period will end after all people has won the money. It differs from gambling where gambling doesn’t have period and arisan is more of a saving because in total the money you won will be the same with the money you pay. Head to this link if you need more explanation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arisan . In Indonesia, it is more of social gathering.

Anyway, I manage arisan for my extended family and it can be quite complex since it also behaves like mini bank with all type of transactions including saving, loan and other type of payments (mandatory periodic payment for family fund, donation, etc). I also managing two of my extended family from my father branch and my mother with each one has different processes and payment type and I don’t want to create separate application for each. In total I can have around 70 users but I want my application to be scalable and multi tenant to handle various group. So more on this on my next article because we are talking more about how is AI today in general. Anyhow, I can say that with AI I can develop it much faster ,with good architecture, good degree of robustness and even has some nice UI (which for sure I will need help if AI isn’t there yet).

My conclusion so far is that AI is really a game changer and a major disruption in software development with key takeaway that (I think) you still need to know system design and application architecture. The one who gets most benefit is them who already have solid understanding on system architecture and design. AI will help them to implement what’s on their mind which usually take weeks into much shorter time (can even be in minutes if you already have a very good and detail requirement). Please keep in mind that creating a good business requirement and conducting a UAT in a project will still take time. So it’s not like you will have your application ready by tomorrow if you asked today, but it certainly will reduce the time to finish on technical side.

There is (I humbly think) however, one big risk with AI. Those who think they now knew how to build an application. Those who has little knowledge of system architecture/design and think with AI they can build ready for production application fast and easy unaware what is lurking around them and expect the IT team (developer) to do even better. This is the real risk, it’s what (may) get people judged (or even laid off) and only to discover the tradeoff later when some damage already happen. For IT team out there who has this experience, you have my sympathy. It is our task to have and give the correct roadmap with results and progresses and keep managing the expectations so that the company can avoid any damages (in any form possible) and get the most benefit from AI.

On another perspective about generations of people, one thing to note is that I think the one who will benefit the most from AI is gen millennials because most of them currently (as of 2026) holds senior position in technical and already quite mature in system architecture and design. They have seen the world changing from beginning of internet, smartphones to modern tech era as of today. The one who are threatens the most with AI will be gen-z and gen-x. Early gen-z may already hold senior position, but most will still be in junior position and this is where AI threatens because senior dev or tech leads can delegate the task to AI and won’t need junior developer as much. So for gen-z out there, you need to catch up. For gen-x, the threat will be different because it disrupts their comfort zone. Those who already work for decades with no major disruption and suddenly the world is moving very fast. It may like you have enjoyed the calm sea without big waves and suddenly there’s a tsunami. Suddenly you can become irrelevant and it may not be easy to learn new techniques on how to survive a storm when you have enjoyed long prosperous fine weather for so long.

However, industry wise I still think the disruption and adaption will also be different. Those in startups or tech companies will be the first wave affected by AI. Corporate will take longer because they already have mature ERP applications and they depend heavily on it. One exception can come from high management expectations of AI (as most CEOs think today). If this happens then the IT team will be caught in the middle, because they rely on many off the shelf application which is not AI ready yet and will take a long time and expensive cost for development but need a way where there’s real evidence that AI works and give value to the company.

So good luck on your AI journey and get your surf board ready because we will ride the wave.