A lot of AI use is subsidized to get DAU. The only truly productive applications so far are are R&D and SWE.

I'm starting to use it quite heavily and extremely productively for non R&D and non SWE work. It has transformed one aspect of my business, and that won't change -- this type of usage is highly productive, and only likely to grow.

Mind sharing some specifics? Being very siloed in software I don't see as much chatter around how people find an edge elsewhere.

The latest crop of models are extremely capable at classic (physics based) engineering tasks. Their incredible math ability as well as agent use allows them to plow through engineering problems, and they do it with knowledge that I have only heard grey beards talk about. Humans run through designs doing 1st order approximations and intuitive assumptions, but the models can just breeze through 4th order approximations on everything.

They used to not be able to read schematics, but now they can, as well as generate and simulate. They also have made incredible inroads into CAD and reading mechanical diagrams.

Right now I can say with very high confidence that there isn't a gap in ability so much as a gap in awareness of their abilities. On top of that the next round of models has apparently made strides in all these areas too.

> (and the DC block ends up being counter productive knee-jerk behavior)

I don't agree with your description of how the ban is going to be counterproductive.

There won't be massive inference margins. The DCs will get built, in some other country. And in all likelihood they will continue to be built elsewhere even after the block is lifted.