Matt Shumer, the author of the viral essay "Something Big is Coming," which warns of sweeping AI-driven disruption, has revealed that AI played a key role in writing the piece—and that fact, he says, underscores his central argument. Speaking during a recent appearance on TBPN, Shumer, a general partner at Shumer Capital, emphasized that despite the growing skepticism around AI, the technology is now powerful enough to assist in high-level thinking and communication. He said he couldn’t wait any longer to share his concerns, even if the odds of widespread disruption were only 20%. “Even if there’s a 20% chance of this happening, people deserve to know and have time to prepare,” he told Business Insider. His goal was not just to reach tech insiders, but people like his father—a lawyer nearing retirement who may not be deeply involved in AI but could be profoundly affected by its rise. The essay, which has been viewed over 60 million times on X alone, argues that AI’s impact could surpass even the global pandemic in scale. While some have pushed back on the comparison, Shumer insists the urgency is real. He cited his own experience with OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5.3-Codex, which OpenAI described as the first model “instrumental in creating itself.” For Shumer, that moment was a turning point—he realized AI was no longer just assisting with tasks, but beginning to perform the kind of technical work he once thought only humans could do. Shumer also admitted that AI helped him write the essay itself. He spent hours refining his message using Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic. “It did help a lot,” he said, “and I think that’s kind of the point.” The irony is not lost on him: the technology he’s warning about is also the tool enabling his warning. Shumer’s past has drawn scrutiny, particularly after an open-source AI model he promoted in 2024 failed to meet the performance claims he made. He later apologized, acknowledging he “got ahead of myself.” Still, he maintains that his current message is grounded in what he’s seeing in real-time development across the industry. He’s not alone in sounding the alarm. Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei has warned that up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs could vanish in the next five years. Elon Musk has called AI a “supersonic tsunami” that will rapidly eliminate non-physical labor roles. Shumer, who is just 26 and still early in his career, admits he’s unsettled by the future. “I don’t know how many more years of my career there will be if this all actually comes to pass,” he said. “It’s frankly a little confusing and terrifying.” He notes that the impact won’t be uniform. A nurse, for example, may remain safe for years, while junior lawyers and legal associates face immediate risk due to AI’s ability to handle routine research and drafting tasks. His advice? Don’t dismiss AI based on outdated experiences. “If you look back 10 years from now and this did come to pass, you’ll be very glad you did,” he said. “Now is the time to understand what it can do.”