Fuel crisis exposes a new AI-era phenomenon: dozens of identical services in a week

In late June and early July 2026, gasoline shortages in several Russian regions triggered an unexpected technological phenomenon: within seven days, more than ten people independently built virtually identical services for tracking queues at gas stations. All used AI assistants, and none had professional training in development.

What appeared in seven days

When queues at gas stations in several regions stretched to several hours, different people arrived at the same solution: build a map or a bot to monitor fuel availability. Each was sure they were first. Each used a language model, whether Claude, ChatGPT or something similar, to assemble a working prototype in a few hours. The result was unexpected: by the end of the week, more than ten virtually identical products were online.

Key facts:

• More than 10 independent services appeared within 7 days
• Interface, functionality and origin story are virtually identical
• The creators did not know about each other
• A state regulator commented publicly on the situation
• Conspiracy theories appeared online about "cloning" or a coordinated campaign

The synchronized launch is what alarmed part of the audience: it seemed too implausible that independent people would build almost the same thing in a single week.

Why now?

Sociologists described convergent invention centuries ago: when conditions ripen, different people independently reach the same solution. Newton and Leibniz developed calculus in parallel. Bell and Gray filed patent applications for the telephone on the same day. Darwin and Wallace independently formulated the theory of natural selection.

Historically, this phenomenon involved scientists and engineers with rare knowledge. The barrier to entry in development (specialized skills, years of training, production capacity) kept it from appearing among the general public. Today AI tools have removed the main one of these barriers: anyone with a laptop can now build a functional web service after a few hours of dialogue with a language model.

The consequence is clear: "parallel invention" has moved beyond academic elites. In a crisis, the same product is built not by one startup but by dozens of people at once. And for the first time in history, this parallelism is visible in real time.

The reaction: from conspiracy theories to the regulator

Analysts who noticed the similarity between the services initially suspected an organized campaign or viral marketing. A state regulator commented publicly on the situation, apparently treating the synchronized launch of many similar products as something requiring explanation or a response.

The author of the study believes the real explanation is both simpler and more interesting: what happened is a manifestation of a long-known social phenomenon, but on a fundamentally new scale. This form has no established term yet, either in sociology or in innovation theory.

What this means

The fuel crisis accidentally revealed a new consequence of the AI revolution: in an acute situation, hundreds of people can now build the same solution simultaneously. That changes the familiar logic of the "first mover": speed to market stops being a competitive advantage if everyone can start at once. Neither the market nor regulators have adapted to this reality yet.