Are we in the "modem era" of AI?

In the early days of the internet we were in a similar situation. Modems, early Linux systems, the first websites. Technically primitive by today’s standards, but something important had appeared: information could suddenly move freely across a network. That was a novum by this time and not many understood it yet. At the time the real question was not about the technology itself. The question was much simpler. What can we actually build with this network? Today we seem to be entering a similar phase again.