The last two years have been marked by significant global changes. The transformation caused by AI is widely discussed, potentially leading to job displacement, and many people feel justified anxiety. Even leaders of leading AI laboratories warn of possible large-scale worker replacement.
However, the author presents a different view on this situation. When AI makes resources abundant, human labor becomes scarce, and scarcity is always valued higher. An analogy with diamonds and gold is provided, whose value is determined not only by utility but also by scarcity.
The current stage differs from many technological innovations of the last three decades, such as the internet, mobile devices, IoT, or blockchain. Progress in AI affects the very methods of software development. This shift will intensify when general AI (AGI) and physical AI (robots) move out of research centers into production processes, ensuring exponential rather than linear growth.
Today, there is concern that software development jobs are shrinking due to automation. While this may be true for some current positions, history shows that technology eliminates tasks faster than it eliminates people. New roles inevitably emerge to absorb talent. Positions such as content creators, AI trainers, agent orchestrators, and field engineers did not exist ten years ago as official titles, but today they are held by people from professions that were considered disappearing.
Consider the example of painting. Digital art has made beautiful images accessible to all segments of society due to reduced production and distribution costs. This did not destroy manual painting; on the contrary, it made it more expensive. Today, there are more artists than ever, and original works are more expensive precisely because they are created by humans.
Chess demonstrates a similar scenario. Computers have defeated world champions since 1997, and today a free phone application plays better than any human. Chess has not disappeared; it has become more popular than ever. More people play, watch, and earn a living through chess because the human contest itself is valued, not just the best move.
This pattern repeats everywhere: machine-made furniture has turned handmade items into luxury goods. Recorded music increased the value of live concerts in the music industry. Fast fashion made bespoke tailoring a premium product. When machines make something abundant, the human version becomes scarce, and scarcity increases the price.
When AI can generate reports, designs, analysis, and code in seconds, these outputs become cheap. What remains scarce? Human judgment regarding which problem is worth solving, accountability in case of errors, taste, and trust. The ability to interact with a client, understand their true needs, and take responsibility for the final result.
AI produces answers in abundance. People capable of asking the right questions, verifying the received answers, and guaranteeing results will become rare. The value of human labor will increase over time, provided we develop in line with this new demand.
The premium will not be distributed automatically to everyone. An artist who refused to study galleries, patrons, and new materials did not benefit from the boom in digital art. Those artists who adapted, using digital tools for drafts while leaving their hands for the final canvas, prospered.
The same applies to people. If your value lies in writing code that AI can write faster, your job is truly at risk. However, if your value lies in understanding clients, designing solutions, making decisions, and using AI as a lever, your value grows daily. Engineers who learn to manage ten AI agents will earn more than engineers competing against one.
Headlines about AI-driven layoffs describe a transitional period, not an end. Every major technological shift has followed the same trajectory: first fear, then displacement, and after that, a larger, often higher-paid workforce emerges. Panic paralyzes, while change prompts action. It is necessary to master the tools and elevate one's skills up the value chain, closer to judgment, trust, and the client. One should view AI as an abundant resource and make oneself scarce.
An Indian startup mentored by IIT Madras has unveiled a full-scale electric flying taxi prototype named e200X. This move marks significant progress for India in the field of electric aerial mobility, as the future of urban transport may no longer be confined to roads.
The e200X aircraft is an electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle. Unlike traditional airplanes, it can take off and land vertically, similar to a helicopter, before transitioning to horizontal flight. Since it does not require a runway, this aircraft is ideally suited for cities with limited land and daily traffic congestion issues.
The prototype is designed for passenger transport, cargo delivery, and emergency medical services. According to available data, the aircraft's structure is made of carbon fiber, weighs approximately 2.2 tons, has a wingspan of 8 meters, and has an estimated operational range of about 110 kilometers.
The ePlane Company was founded in 2019 by IIT Madras professor Satya Chakravarti and Pranjal Mehta. The Chennai-based startup specializes in creating compact electric aircraft for urban transportation needs. The company has secured $21.5 million in investments from investors such as Speciale Invest, Antares Ventures, Micelio Mobility, and Naval Ravikant.
The company's mission focuses on improving so-called medium-range mobility, which covers travel between key points within a city over moderate distances. Instead of needing new airport infrastructure, the e200X will eventually be able to operate from existing helipads and suitable open spaces.
Although the presentation was an important milestone, the aircraft is still under development. The ePlane Company plans to begin test flights of the full-scale prototype by mid-2027. Commercial operation will only commence after extensive testing, certification, and regulatory approval are completed.
The startup has already achieved a significant regulatory milestone by becoming the first private Indian company to receive design approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for an electric aircraft. The type certification process for the e200X began in December 2024.
Major Indian cities continue to face growing problems with road congestion, air pollution, and long travel times. While electric flying taxis are unlikely to replace buses, subways, or regular taxis, they could offer an efficient alternative for urgent medical transport, time-sensitive cargo delivery, and premium city travel.
Although the e200X is still far from commercial deployment, its unveiling demonstrates that India is becoming an active participant in the global race to create next-generation aerial mobility. If the aircraft successfully overcomes technical and regulatory hurdles, it could pave the way for an Indian-created flying taxi ecosystem in the coming years.
Although the photograph itself is modern, it displays a landscape belonging to deep antiquity. This image, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 3, was published by NASA and depicts the galaxy cluster MACS J0553.4-3342. The telescope's infrared camera (NIRCam) registered the image of this cluster in 2026, but the event itself occurred 4.4 billion years ago.
The first thing to understand is that light requires time to travel through space. Secondly, the JWST (short for James Webb) is capable of observing the most distant regions in deep space. Because of this, the telescope effectively functions as a kind of time machine.
Light travels at a constant speed of approximately 300,000 kilometers per second. This means that any image of an object in space reflects not its current state, but what it was when the light was emitted. Since James Webb is designed to observe extremely distant objects located billions of light-years from Earth, it captures rays of light that have traveled through space for billions of years. By registering this ancient luminosity, the telescope displays the Universe exactly as it was in the distant past.
Essentially, observing the depths of space through James Webb is equivalent to watching a recorded 'rewind' of the Universe's childhood. Thus, researchers can see stars and galaxies that formed shortly after the Big Bang. This capability is not unique to JWST; other telescopes, such as Hubble, have also studied the past of the cosmos and provided impressive old images. Nevertheless, James Webb has its own distinctive features.
To see this distant past, the telescope uses high-tech infrared sensors. The reason is as follows: over billions of years of travel, the light emitted by the first galaxies has undergone a phenomenon known as 'redshift,' caused by the continuous expansion of the fabric of space itself. This expansion has stretched visible and ultraviolet light, turning it into infrared light that is invisible to the human eye. By capturing this stretched infrared radiation, James Webb reveals the mysteries of the origin of the cosmos, acting as our cosmic archaeologist.
Another interesting point is that the farther a celestial body is from us, the longer it takes for its light to cross space and reach our eyes. Therefore, the light from your favorite constellation probably traveled millions of light-years to reach your field of view. Next time you look up at the starry sky, remember that you are observing a mosaic of ancient landscapes.
Romania has successfully shot down a drone on its territory for the first time. The incident occurred a few minutes ago, around 11:00 local time (which corresponds to 09:00 in Lisbon).
The shootdown was carried out by a Romanian pilot in an F-16 aircraft. Relevant teams are currently conducting an investigation to determine all circumstances of this event, according to Dan in an interview with the media.
