Nicholas Arcolano

Leading AI product innovation and AI impact thought leadership @ Jellyfish. Formerly Harvard, MIT Lincoln Labs. I love running; it doesn't always love me back.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

@ainativedev @sjmaple @_jellyfish_co Also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

https://t.co/ThrGdadaVV

https://t.co/Ez0LNoMjcY

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

My @ainativedev podcast with @sjmaple

What AI productivity actually looks like in the wild, multi-agent workflows / the limits of human attention, and what @_jellyfish_co data says about tokenmaxxing. Check it out!

https://t.co/52J7DUuQBt

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Early estimates warned @claudeai Opus 4.7 "tokenizer tax" could cost up to 40% more.

Just crunched the numbers from @_jellyfish_co data across 17K users, actual figure (controlling for individual output, type of work, and amount of thinking) is 17%

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Talked to @alistairmbarr at @BusinessInsider about tokenmaxxing.

10x the tokens → 2x the output.

Tokens are 🚀 fuel: incredibly powerful, but you need exponentially more to move incrementally faster.

https://t.co/bDhHJ8jfCi

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Text version of some of the @_jellyfish_co insights from my video earlier this week.

Data across 135K devs show that creating 6+ context/skill files (CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules, etc.) means 2.3 extra PRs per week.

Each doubling of investment → 29% more PRs merged.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

New @_jellyfish_co data on AI agent customization across 135K devs.

Devs who've created 6+ context/skill files (CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules, etc.) ship 2.3 extra PRs per week.

Each doubling of investment → 29% more PRs merged.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Good news – the "tokenmaxxing" trend has run its course!

Showing up in an NPR episode so that my mom can ask my "what does <blank> mean?" is the final stage of any tech trend.

https://t.co/i6H4PCVFnU

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

🚨 New @_jellyfish_co AI Engineering Trends data
https://t.co/izxlJxH2Wb

Top companies now generate 21% of PRs autonomously (was 3% a year ago).

Power users burn 225M Claude Code tokens a week, 7x the median.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

New @_jellyfish_co data on AI agent customization across 135K devs.

Devs who've created 6+ context/skill files (CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules, etc.) ship 2.3 extra PRs per week.

Each doubling of investment → 29% more PRs merged.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Thanks to tokenmaxxing we have a new definition for "10x engineer": someone who can double your throughput for 10x the cost.

Check out this piece in @TechCrunch featuring @_jellyfish_co data on the hidden costs of raw token consumption:
https://t.co/k96SdwSQD7

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

New @_jellyfish_co data on tokenmaxxing.

Top decile devs burn 69M tokens per PR vs 7M at the median – 10x more fuel for ~2x the throughput.

Tokens are rocket fuel... and like a rocket, going faster takes exponentially more of it 🚀

[AI Engineer @aiDotEngineer]

And that's a wrap! AI Engineer Europe 2026 has concluded.

Our video crew did incredible work to capture the energy, enthusiasm, and positivity of this event -- but it still doesn't come close to being there.

If you're engineering the future of AI -- we hope to see you at a future event!

Thank you London -- thank you Europe!

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Another fantastic @aiDotEngineer in the books! Just telling @Benghamine the thing I love most is how these events let me “see around corners” – what we talk about here everyone in the industry will be talking about in 3-6mo.

[Peter Steinberger 🦞 @steipete]

raising lobsters at @aiDotEngineer

[Noah @NoahKingJr]

How I help claude review the code written by Claude:

[AI Engineer @aiDotEngineer]

Vibes from yesterday's workshop/reception day!

[AI Engineer @aiDotEngineer]

What's next for @openclaw - Peter Steinberger on the future of the claw

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

OpenClaw didn’t even exist when I was at @aiDotEngineer CodeSummit in November and now 5mo later at AIE London there’s an entire track on the main stage devoted to it. Insane.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

New @_jellyfish_co data on AI token costs across 12,000 devs.

– 90th percentile: 382M tokens/month (7x the median)
– Cost per merged PR: $0.28 (low usage) vs ~$90 (high usage)

More tokens = more output, but at a dramatically higher price per unit.

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

Loving the shoutout to @_jellyfish_co AI Engineering Trends benchmarks on the most recent @AIDailyBrief – thanks @nlw!

Thrilled to hear our analyses are helping folks make sense of their progress on AI transformation

Episode:
https://t.co/yomuFfaqwd

[Nicholas Arcolano @arcolano]

New @_jellyfish_co AI Engineering Trends update (now covering 37M pull requests!)

– P90 for autonomous agent PRs 10% → 14.5% (gap widening fast!)
– AI-assisted teams still seeing ~2x PR throughput
– Reverted code creeping up 5-11% as adoption grows

https://t.co/izxlJxH2Wb