Five Things Tech: Something Big, Layers, Pre-IPO Cashout, Live Translation, Wikipedia
Everything you should read about Tech right now.
The water is rising, and most people still don't realize they're already chest-deep.
The AI acceleration is no longer a prediction but a lived reality for tech workers, and as Matt Shumer warns, the rest of the world is next after February 5th's double release of GPT-5.3 Codex and Opus 4.6 marked the moment when everything changed. While complexity grows like Coruscant's 5,127 layers stacking on top of each other, at least we're building new tools to master it, though I'm not sure everyone will keep up. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley's old taboo against cashing out early is crumbling as employees at Notion, OpenAI, and SpaceX take their money off the table, and honestly, who can blame them when valuations are so insanely high that waiting longer feels like unnecessary risk on this rollercoaster.
On the bright side, T-Mobile's network-level live translation for phone calls is freaking cool and suddenly you can talk to anyone anywhere without an app, which is genuinely amazing tech. And in a twist nobody saw coming, Wikipedia has become a storied institution that people feel nostalgic about, serving as the invisible foundation for social media creators and a last bastion of hope before AI slop takes over everything, which is remarkable considering we all thought it was the Wild West back in the day.
Enjoy Five Things Tech! 🤖
Something Big Is Happening
Here’s the thing nobody outside of tech quite understands yet: the reason so many people in the industry are sounding the alarm right now is because this already happened to us. We’re not making predictions. We’re telling you what already occurred in our own jobs, and warning you that you’re next.
For years, AI had been improving steadily. Big jumps here and there, but each big jump was spaced out enough that you could absorb them as they came. Then in 2025, new techniques for building these models unlocked a much faster pace of progress. And then it got even faster. And then faster again. Each new model wasn’t just better than the last... it was better by a wider margin, and the time between new model releases was shorter. I was using AI more and more, going back and forth with it less and less, watching it handle things I used to think required my expertise.
Then, on February 5th, two major AI labs released new models on the same day: GPT-5.3 Codex from OpenAI, and Opus 4.6 from Anthropic (the makers of Claude, one of the main competitors to ChatGPT). And something clicked. Not like a light switch... more like the moment you realize the water has been rising around you and is now at your chest.
People who are not paying attention now will soon have much more time on their hands. Sounds harsh, but that is the way it is. AI eats their breakfast, lunch and dinner.
5,127 Layers
When I think about the future of tech, I sometimes think about Coruscant in Star Wars.
Casual fans know Coruscant as the city planet that’s the capital of the Galactic Empire. It houses the Jedi Temple and the Senate chambers of the Republic.
Less casual fans (read: nerds like me) know that Coruscant is actually comprised of thousands of layers. As Coruscant grew in size, the planet expanded outward, building new layers on top of old layers. The planet has 5,127 distinct urban layers and the total depth of the planet, from the outermost skyscrapers down to the original surface, is 22 kilometers. This means the average layer is ~4.3 meters or ~14 feet.
Oh yes, the complexity is growing, but so are the tools we need to master the complexity.
The AI Gold Rush Is Breaking a Silicon Valley Taboo: Cashing Out Before the IPO
Notion is among a host of startups and tech companies, including Stripe, OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks and SpaceX, that are giving employees eager to access wealth tied up in private shares a way to cash out some of it.
It marks a shift in Silicon Valley culture as companies stay private longer. Selling startup shares early was long viewed as taboo and a sign of lacking long-term commitment.
Of course this happens when valuations are so high that people have reached a point where they cannot afford to wait longer, they simply want to be on the safe side for once on the rollercoaster ride of startup life.
T-Mobile will live translate regular phone calls without an app
Enabling it at the network level means users don’t need specific apps or devices to use the service. The only requirement is that translation must be initiated by a T-Mobile network user. The feature will be available on the carrier’s 5G Advanced network, but T-Mobile President of Technology and CTO John Saw told The Verge that Live Translation works over both 4G LTE and 5G:
“The key requirement is a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) connection, which allows the service to operate reliably across a wide range of devices and network conditions,” said Saw. “That flexibility is important because it ensures Live Translation works for customers wherever they are, not just when they’re on the latest network technology. Live Translation works over VoLTE, VoNR, and VoWiFi.”
This is so freaking cool. Just imagine you can talk to anyone on the phone suddenly. Not that I want to call random strangers, but this is really amazing tech.
Wikipedia is having a renaissance in the age of AI
These AI deals show that Wikipedia is still an extremely critical knowledge base. But it will inevitably be up to the humans who love it to keep the site going. Clover acknowledges that a lot of young people struggling to pay their bills may not have the time or energy to become Wikipedians who edit the site, but that’s “not for a lack of interest.” Harrison, meanwhile, sees independent creators, like Depths of Wikipedia, as crucial in keeping Wikipedia’s brand alive. “Social media influencers rely on Wikipedia as a sort of invisible foundation for their knowledge,” he said. For now, all the “old internet” nostalgia on TikTok gives him some hope for a revival.
“I grew up when Wikipedia was considered the Wild West of the internet,” he said. “It’s really remarkable how Wikipedia has, in a lot of ways, become this storied institution that people have all these feelings of nostalgia and affection toward.”
I remember when Wikipedia was still new and lots of people were very sceptic. And now it is one of the last bastions of hope before the AI slop takes over.
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading! If you missed last week’s Five Things Tech, you can find it here:
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— Nico