Our year so far, and what happened in AI this summer

We hope you have had a good summer. After a busy first half of 2026, we are ready to roll up our sleeves and keep the momentum going, and AI development is showing no signs of slowing down either. As expected, agents have defined the year, as agentic tools like Claude Code, Cowork and Codex have taken the world by storm. Much of the hype around the potential of AI in 2025 is starting to materialise in 2026.

To keep up with the developments, we ran monthly Claude Code meetups at Mesh in collaboration with Anthropic, attracting more than 2,000 attendees so far. More than 600 people joined our Claude Code meetup in May, which made it the biggest Claude Code event in the world that month. Thanks to everyone who took part.

We also ran monthly Claude Code bootcamps, even though most people in the room had never written a line of code before. In the bootcamps we have shown that Claude Code is an everything agent that can research, analyse, create and automate work across any role. The bootcamps brought together founders and leaders with people from projects, consulting, law, research and marketing, across industries from finance and maritime tech to media.

In addition to our bootcamps at Mesh, our calendars have been filled with company-specific Claude bootcamps. The feedback has been really good, and companies have been talking about it online. Thank you Havfonn, Eviny, Tellmann, Oslo Advokatkontor and Lean Communications, to mention a few.

Since we started GritAI, our goal has been to make AI practical and accessible, and the bootcamps have become one of the best ways to do that. Seeing is believing has never been more true, and we see so much value in showing people what is actually possible, broadening their imagination for what they can do with these tools. One of the best parts of the year has been watching people go from staring blankly at Claude Code to building things with it in their own work.

Claude Code Bootcamp at Mesh

We have launched three new Claude Code bootcamps, starting on 24 August. This autumn we are also running a dedicated developer edition focused on building software with agents.

• 24 August 2026, Claude Code for Everyone
• 30 September 2026, Claude Code for Developers
• 27 October 2026, Claude Code for Everyone

People have also been asking for a Claude Code for Everyone level two bootcamp and a dedicated Codex bootcamp, so reply to this email if you would like us to run either one.

AI summer

AI did not stand still this summer. Here are the key themes we extracted from a wall of news and updates.

Agents are becoming more accessible and easier to use. Until recently, using an agent for longer tasks often meant opening a coding tool such as Claude Code or Codex. Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work now let you start and steer longer-running tasks online or from your phone, rather than keeping the agent tied to one computer. You hand over a brief, let the agent work with files, connected tools and the web, then check progress or continue the task later. This brings work mode much closer to regular AI chat.

Voice is becoming a new way to work. Voice has often felt more like a demo than a useful interface, but this summer it moved much closer to becoming a way to work. Claude Voice can now access tools such as Gmail, Calendar, Slack and Notion during the conversation, and move between voice and text without losing context. ChatGPT Voice now runs on GPT-Live, which can listen and speak at the same time, and the desktop app lets you use voice to start tasks, check progress and coordinate agents in Work and Codex. We cannot wait for Claude Voice to make its way into Claude Code and Claude Cowork, where it could become an even more useful way to brief agents, follow their progress and change direction as they work.

The models are getting seriously good. Models such as Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 5, GPT-5.6, Gemini 3.6 Flash and Grok 4.5 are raising the bar for coding, knowledge work and longer agentic tasks. Open models made a big jump too, with GLM-5.2, Kimi K3 and DeepSeek V4 Flash moving much closer to the closed frontier. Better models and more competition give teams more choice over cost, performance and where their agents run.

Agents are learning to run the loop themselves. This summer's autonomy gains did not only come from smarter models, but also from how agents are set up around them. Loop engineering and graph engineering became the words for building the right checks and structure so an agent can keep working on its own for hours instead of minutes. Addy Osmani's post, which popularised the term, sums it up well. Instead of prompting the agent yourself, you design a system that prompts it for you.

Claude Code Meetup at Mesh

The monthly Claude Code meetup at Mesh is back on 24 August. Come hear real use cases, meet other builders, and see what people are actually shipping with Claude Code. Free to join, sign up on Luma.

Company bootcamps

One of the most impactful ways we have helped companies in 2026 has been through full-day bootcamps built around their own context. Rather than teaching generic techniques, we tailor the training and use cases to the company's tools, workflows and priorities. Our calendars for September and October are already filling up, so reach out if you want to lock in a bootcamp with us this autumn.

AI talks around the world

Aleksander has also been keeping busy on the international conference circuit, running workshops and talks on Claude, MCP and agent building. So far this year he has spoken at NDC London in January (watch the recording), NDC Sydney in April, NDC Copenhagen in June and NDC AI Oslo in June. He is confirmed for NDC Oslo in September, NDC Porto in November and NDC London in January 2027.

AI training programmes

Beyond bootcamps, we have also had the pleasure of running longer AI training programmes, building AI upskilling programmes, and supporting company-wide rollouts for employees, leaders, ambassadors and developers. This year we have worked closely with companies such as Eviny, Scatec, Inspired Group, Norwegian, Orkla IT and Amedia to help make AI part of how their teams work.

One last thing

If you know someone who would enjoy the newsletter, or benefit from the practical updates, events and ideas we share, forward it to them.

Best, Aleksander and Simon