Charlie StrossThe future of AI-powered software development is here!
https://github.com/Zorokee/ArtificialCast
(Warning: don't stop until you've read the text below the subheading, "Why This Exists")
Starlight ✨@cstross Thanks for the warning, I definitely would have skipped this otherwise 
Doug@cstross They had me at BIGPISS
woe2you@FlagrantError @cstross It's a sad indictment of the state of the industry that it took me until that point to realise that BIGPISS was being taken.
DougMerritt (log😅 = 💧log😄)@FlagrantError @cstross
Came here to say that.
(Good name you've got there, BTW)
vxo@FlagrantError @cstross that sounds like it should be a brand name of amazon slop
Guillotine Jones, Flâneur
Alex Darby // darbotron🛹@cstross hahahahahaaaa! that is completely genius
Cadbury MooseBrilliant!
Jim Rockford 👾@[email protected] adding BIGPISS stack to my resume immediately.
Toni Aittoniemi@cstross I can picture the vibe coders passing this along, because they don’t even read the readme, I bet
(They can’t understand it anyway, so why would they?)
Kevin Granade has moved@cstross they had me at BIGPISS
Nuclear OatmealI knew I was sold at "Testable & deterministic-ish - Works beautifully until it doesn't."
That's the type of reliability I demand in my software. Off to download it. Y'all have a nice day
Pretzel (has moved servers!)@cstross I love the "Not For Use License"
Kit Rhett Aultman@cstross NGL, I thought I'd found the punchline when I got to BIGPISS.
oisin@cstross LOL - the stack name is great
Greg Ash@cstross ❤️ bigpiss stack ❤️
D. Moonfire@cstross That was beautifully written, with lovely foreshadowing to the end and building up to a solid ending.
ramblingsteve@cstross "This is the failure mode of success." 😂 i'm stealing that...
Nicole ParsonsThe investors behind AI don't want functional code.
They want:
1. Orwellian state surveillance
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/omnipresent-ai-cameras-will-ensure-good-behavior-says-larry-ellison/
https://www.404media.co/larry-ellisons-ai-powered-surveillance-dystopia-is-already-here/
2. Melding of corporate interests & government
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/12/larry_ellison_wants_all_data/
3. Smoke & Mirrors Fraud
https://www.businessinsider.com/larry-ellison-2010-12#oracle-must-have-been-bit-by-the-curse-of-the-new-hq-by-1990-oracle-was-on-life-support-thanks-to-crappy-software-and-a-too-aggressive-sales-staff-10
4. Immortality for the rich, especially petrostate despots
https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/tech-tycoon-larry-ellison-increases-stake-in-oxford-nanopore-60z7kjrjf
https://theweek.com/science/the-billionaire-led-quest-for-immortality
5. Stop a fossil fuel phase out
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-15/ai-to-prop-up-fossil-fuels-and-slow-emissions-decline-bnef-says
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/02/23/ai-gas-trump-climate-fossil/
Sören Meyer-Eppler@cstross love this:
"Failure is indistinguishable from success: Outputs are correct in form, not in meaning."
ghosttie@cstross This is the failure mode of success.
panu@cstross
I just can't wait to see what kind of issues people report on this project. Like, what even is a bug in this context?
I just can't wait to see what kind of issues people report on this project. Like, what even is a bug in this context?
Pseudo NymThis is cursed.
This is brilliant.
I fear the license will not be read nor honored, and we will see BIGPISS based "production" code at RSA next year.
If you don't care about data integrity, I suppose you could get some novel, potentially even interesting, results from this, but more in line with good performance art than software engineering.
This is fascinatingly awful, and I'm in awe of the author putting the time into making this.
Frank Heijkamp@pseudonym @cstross I can see uses in art installations.
PhosphenesI think we're all accelerationists now. We didn't sign up for it, but here we are.
Billy SmithWhat are the odds that someone didn't read the docs, but just went straight to compile&run...? 🤦♂️ 🤣
LiquidParasyte
Steve Loughran@cstross the prompt implenting this is really funny too
https://github.com/Zorokee/ArtificialCast/blob/main/src/ArtificialCast/ArtificialCast.cs
https://github.com/Zorokee/ArtificialCast/blob/main/src/ArtificialCast/ArtificialCast.cs
Olly Maunder@stevel @cstross "It still generates arrays sometimes."
https://www.reddit.com/r/csharp/comments/1klo4ng/comment/ms43cyg
qwazix@cstross the license 
Bean Club 
@cstross 🅱️IGPISS
Wolf480pl@cstross it's horrifying
@cstross you do of course realize that someone somewhere is actually going to deploy this.
Fabian Egli@cstross Thank you for sharing this!
That "NOT FOR USE LICENSE" is exceptionally fit for purpose.
Softwarewolf@cstross "There is no logic. Only structure. Only inference. Only BIGPISS."
Miko Blissful [he/fae]
Alex, the Hearth Fire@cstross for when taking the regular-size piss isn't enough
Efi (nap pet) 🦊💤@cstross brilliant
@cstross 😅
I like how the tone of the README is very serious at the beginning and derails more and more, with the tipping point being:
"Testable & deterministic-ish - Works beautifully until it doesn't."
It's the same result with longer LLM output - the longer the more bullshit - what beautiful symmetry.
Pure Art! ✨
Thank you for sharing.
Zorokee@cstross Well getting me to sign up to any platform is difficult nowadays. But I felt a need to say thanks for the just amazing feedback I've read here - so thank you.
(p.s. i am so sorry for creating this sin against computing)
Lynx> It works. Until it doesn't. And when it doesn't, it fails in ways that look like success. That's the danger.
💯
Woke Leftist Trash@cstross almost a formal specification for bullshit.
I feel like the defining characteristic of our era is bullshit. And that’s why very smart people are pushing this on us so hard.
Tristram Brelstaff@cstross Who needs Category Theory now we have LLMs?