The latest drama in the AI world has me shaking my head at my desk this morning. Another day, another round of inflated claims and heated debates about the latest language model. This time it’s about Grok 3, and the internet is doing what it does best - turning nuanced technical discussions into tribal warfare.

Working in tech for over two decades has taught me that reality usually lies somewhere between the extremes. When a new AI model drops, we typically see two camps form immediately: the true believers who herald it as the second coming, and the complete skeptics who dismiss it as smoke and mirrors. Both miss the mark.

Remember when flying cars were just around the corner? Or when fully autonomous vehicles were supposed to dominate our roads by 2020? The tech industry has a long history of overselling the immediate future, and now we’re seeing similar patterns with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

OpenAI’s Sam Altman recently made waves by stating they’re “confident” about knowing how to build AGI, with some vague implications about AI agents coming this year. The statement immediately reminded me of those countless tech presentations I’ve attended over the years, where speakers confidently declared revolutionary breakthroughs were just months away.