Latest big change is probably how feasible local models are becoming, like Qwen 3.6 and Gemma 4, they're no longer easily getting stuck in loops and repetition, although on lower quantizations they still pretty much suck for agentic usage.
I think it’s always been obvious where an LLM could be used effectively and where it cannot, if you understand how they work and don’t see them as magical.
The “increase in proficiency” is mostly people coming back to reality and being more intentional about LLM usage. There are no surprise discoveries here. One does not need to use an LLM a lot to get effective with them. A total noob could become effective on day 1 with proper guidance.
Does it actually though?
I've used agents for quite some time now, if someone who never used agents before want to put this to the test somehow, I'm open to try to measure this, reach out via email :)