I had two thoughts this morning about "AI" and I kinda hate that I can't stop thinking and talking about this stuff, but here we are.
1. I think it would be easier for me to take the tech more seriously if the financial side would look less like circular investment scams and increasingly unrealistic bets on a future that seems increasingly more unlikely (see NVIDIA, OPEN AI), and if the hype men would sound a lot less like being part of a mass psychosis (See Gastown, moltbook, openclawd)
2. I think the handful of people I know who are "AI" enthusiasts and seem to get good results with coding agents seem to miss that they have something very similar to survivorship bias or "works-for-me" syndrome that leads them to dismiss or ignore all of the negatives that would occur in wider contexts (for example in a larger organisation).
(And this is before thinking about the ethical, environment and social externalities, which I personally cannot ignore but many people obviously can)
@halfbyte Right, AI brings serious problems we mustn't ignore. But at the end, it's a tool—impact depends on use. It's not about one-line “do it for me” prompts.
With coding agents, bad teams get worse; good teams though e.g. gain better analysis and planning before implementation, improved test coverage, and even reduce comprehension debt.
IMHO AI can help to become a better dev.
@denny I mean, I obviously disagree. That being said, it's been a while since I spent time in larger teams. Maybe it is my missing imagination that keeps me from understanding how coding agents are supposed to help with the claims you made.
(And this is before thinking about the ethical, environment and social externalities, which I personally cannot ignore but many people obviously can)
@halfbyte You could be right — teams working on one large. complex project for years are different when it comes to AI coding. At the end of the day, it is another teammate. Bit weird, but mighty.
Out of tons of use cases I can share: I'm already happy about devs asking the agent those "stupid" intimidating questions about implementation details, domain knowledge and alternatives they might otherwise never ask. It's empowering.
half/byte
Denny