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On February 10, 2026, Matt Shumer, CEO of AI company OthersideAI, published a post on X titled “Something Big Is Happening.” He compared the moment to February 2020 — the month before COVID shut down the world. People laughed at him. The post racked up 80 million views. It got its own Wikipedia page. And everything he wrote is coming true.
Who is Matt Shumer
Shumer isn’t a random internet commentator. In high school, he founded Visos, a VR startup for medical use. Today he runs OthersideAI (HyperWrite), an AI writing platform with nearly two million users. He’s an active angel investor in AI infrastructure.
This is someone who builds AI products, invests in AI companies, and works with the technology every day. Not an academic theorizing. Not a journalist paraphrasing. A practitioner who sees it from the inside.
What he wrote
In a 5,000-word essay on his blog, Shumer argues:
- AI capabilities are advancing faster than the public realizes — what models can do today was unimaginable 12 months ago
- This is the “February 2020” of AI — the month before everything changed, and most people still can’t see what’s coming
- Jobs will disappear faster than new ones are created — not in ten years, but in the next 12-18 months
- Most people will be “blindsided” — because they underestimate the speed of change
The message was clear: adapt NOW, not tomorrow.
How people reacted
The internet tore him apart.
“Fraud.” LowEndBox called him an “AI fraudster” spreading panic to sell his tools.
“Sales pitch.” Forbes: “Some of his advice is sound, but it reads at times like a sales pitch.”
“Same old hype.” The Guardian: “Shumer has a history of AI hype. He previously excited the internet by announcing the ‘world’s top open-source model’ — which it was not.”
“Over the top.” Fortune published a response titled: “Something big is happening in AI, but that’s the only thing Matt Shumer got right.”
Gary Marcus, prominent AI critic, published a detailed rebuttal on Substack: “About that Matt Shumer post that has nearly 50 million views” — challenging nearly every claim.
And then reality started lining up
Shumer published his essay on February 10, 2026. In the weeks that followed:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| February 13, 2026 | Mustafa Suleyman (Microsoft AI): “Most computer jobs automated in 12-18 months” |
| February 18, 2026 | Fed Governor: AI scenario where many workers are “essentially unemployable” — “totally possible” |
| February 22, 2026 | Citrini Research publishes “2028 Global Intelligence Crisis” — Dow drops 800 points |
| February 26, 2026 | Citadel Securities publishes rebuttal — acknowledging the seriousness even while disputing conclusions |
| February 28, 2026 | Fortune cover: “The week the AI scare turned real” |
Two weeks after Shumer’s post, all of Wall Street was discussing the exact scenario he described. A Fed Governor confirmed it was possible. The Dow dropped 800 points.
Nobody was laughing anymore.
February 2020 — February 2026
Shumer’s COVID comparison was what made people angriest. “How can you compare AI to a pandemic?”
But look at the analogy:
| February 2020 (COVID) | February 2026 (AI) |
|---|---|
| “It’s just a flu in China” | “AI is just a chatbot for students” |
| “It won’t reach us” | “My job is too complex for AI” |
| “The media is exaggerating” | “Tech bro spreading panic to sell tools” |
| March 2020: lockdown | 2026-2027: mass white-collar layoffs |
| Those who prepared — got through it easier | ? |
Shumer wasn’t claiming AI is a virus. He was claiming the pattern is the same: most people don’t react to warnings until reality hits them. And when it hits — it’s too late to prepare.
What Shumer actually asked for
The irony: Shumer’s essay wasn’t a call for panic. It was a call for action. Here’s what he proposed:
- Learn to use AI tools — not tomorrow, today
- Understand what AI can do — not from headlines, but from practice
- Prepare for the transition — don’t wait for your company to tell you you’re unnecessary
- Be curious, not scared — but be aware of how serious this is
Shumer later told CNBC: “The article wasn’t meant to scare people. If I had known how viral it was going to go, I would have rewritten some parts.”
But here’s the thing: he wasn’t wrong. He was too direct for people who weren’t ready to hear it.
The lesson from 80 million views
When someone writes a post that 80 million people read and that earns its own Wikipedia page — that’s not viral content. That’s a nerve that got hit.
People don’t get angry at nonsense claims. They get angry at claims they deep down know might be true.
Matt Shumer said out loud what many feel quietly: something big is happening, and most of us aren’t ready.
You can mock him. You can call him a fraud. But in 12 months — check who was right.
Sources
- Matt Shumer — original X post
- Matt Shumer — “Something Big Is Happening” (full essay)
- Wikipedia — “Something Big Is Happening”
- Fortune — “Something big is happening in AI and most people will be blindsided”
- CNBC — Shumer: “The essay wasn’t meant to scare people”
- Fortune — “That’s the only thing Shumer got right”
- Gary Marcus — response to Shumer’s post
- Fortune — “The week the AI scare turned real”
- Inc. — viral post: “AI is bigger than Covid”
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