13 min
Xinjiang Shao
What Changed in LLMs, 2017 to 2026
Five products turned the language model from something you talk to into something that acts for you. Each one handed the model a job a person used to do — and handed the person a new one back.
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AI
AI from building with it: an AI receipt scanner shipped solo, how LLMs changed from 2017 to 2026, and what AI adoption means for engineering teams.
4 posts tagged with “AI”
7 min
Xinjiang Shao
Product Bets and the Reflection of Engineering Inside a Product Org
Three days at a Product Summit — 1H reflection, 2H big bets, and a day of open proposals — left me with more questions about engineering than about product. Notes on the gaps between top-down and bottom-up, early and burned-out AI adopters, and what a "bet" actually is.
10 min
Xinjiang Shao
The Engineer Becomes the Editor
I built a three-platform AI product alone for $725 of tooling and under $45/month to run. The interesting part was never the speed — it was what it changed about how I would lead a team.
8 min
Xinjiang Shao
My 2025 Reflection: A Year of AI, Exploration, and Growth
Personal reflections on 2025: navigating the AI revolution, rediscovering photography, traveling across continents, and finding balance in a year of rapid change.