FischkoppMar 15
nixCraft 🐧

AI Didn’t Simplify Software Engineering: It Just Made Bad Engineering Easier https://robenglander.com/writing/ai-did-not-simplify/

Look on the bright side in a few years there will be good demand for "artisanal" software engineers and specialized IT folks who can fix this AI slop generated code at 1000$ per hour.

AI Didn't Simplify Software Engineering: It Just Made Bad Engineering Easier

Mar 14 at 3:45pmWeb
Show thread#?.info Mar 14
@nixCraft If all the companies that have "pivoted to AI" haven't gone bust by then. That's my main concern, people keep saying "Yes, but in a year they'll have to hire us back to fix everything", but who will hire us back? The companies who have destroyed themselves by wholesale buying into this fad?
Show threadMuss das sein.Mar 14

@poundquerydotinfo @nixCraft money never vanshies. It just changed its owner. ;)

Someone will have a lot of money.

Show thread#?.info Mar 14
@jnfrd @nixCraft Yeah, but they won't be paying us ${WAGES_WE_MISSED} to fix things, those things will be gone. They'll be paying us ${PROBABLY LESS THAN WE WERE BEING PAID} to set up new infrastructure for new companies.
Show threadMuss das sein.Mar 14
@poundquerydotinfo @nixCraft of course they won’t pay for the damage they caused. Why should they?
Show threadmarcusxmsMar 14
@poundquerydotinfo @nixCraft If they go bust that's a good thing. Better companies will replace them. Ideally many smaller companies instead of few tech giants, and companies that are less top down owned/controlled. They're legacy in so many ways.
Show thread🌸 VårgubbenMar 14

@poundquerydotinfo Large companies pivoting to their own destruction might not be all bad though. Very few pieces of software are actually unique, and when they are it's often because the big fish having bought and closed the competition.

As an example, let's say Microligarcy, goes a head with their plan to auto slop the Windopoly kernel over to Rust. It will most likely fail miserably, and thereby drive additional Linux adoption.

@nixCraft

Show threadFoolishOwlMar 14

@nixCraft The richest of the rich are injecting snake oil into their veins. They no longer care if software, or anything else, actually works. They don't even care if the line goes up, because pictures of lines going up are just as good as far as they're concerned.

If get rid of them, maybe we'll survive, and then we will be able to fix things. But that's a big "if".

Show threadferricoxideMar 14
@nixCraft

COBOL/Y2K pt. II.
Show threadErik MenzelMar 14
@nixCraft One of the big advantages of AI is that you no longer need to hire a wanker to turn everything to shite.
Show threadGabriele Marcosanti Mar 14
@nixCraft the 1.000$/hour will be due to inflation, not as a premium for cleaning the mess.
Show threadWooShellMar 14
@nixCraft AI has shifted the main effort from "putting mental algorithms down into code" to "finding errors and fixing hallucinations", and (imho) that's the far more annoying task of the two. I've always hated debugging other people's code, but now I have to argue with an assertive AI that it really has made a mistake and in which way I want it to fix it. It's like training a rather renitent intern, over and over again.
AI has made our job more mentally exhausting, not easier.
Show threadThe DoctorMar 14
@WooShell @nixCraft If I wanted to debug code using coercive psychology, I'd have gone into marketing.
Show threadstony karkMar 14
@nixCraft nah. not even Beff Jezos himself can afford my consulting rate for any company that's used AI. Let their worthless junk die.
Show thread𐁂𐀑𐀐𐁐Mar 14
@nixCraft I don't think the 2010's post-layoffs "shit, we need contractors to fix this!" dynamic will happen again. Everything has become monopolized or oligopolized enough that everything being broken is YOUR problem, not the pedophile overlords' problem. Everything that is not FOSS is just going to be perma-broken here on out.
Show threadThe DoctorMar 14
@Emerson61 @nixCraft Or it'll become gig work. We won't see a concerted effort like that again.
Show threadThe DoctorMar 14
@nixCraft More like $10 per task because it'll become gig work.
Show threaddegenerating degenerateMar 14

@nixCraft

> Look on the bright side in a few years there will be good demand for "artisanal" software engineers and specialized IT folks who can fix this AI slop generated code at 1000$ per hour.

... since I keep reading here the Coding AIs supposedly only produce radioactive "slop", why aren't we in the era of Great Artisanal Wealth Extraction already?

Why will it take "a few years" before things break?

I would have thought it would be breaking stuff and just getting worse immediately?

Show threadnot a martian, honest5d ago
@hopeless @nixCraft hmm, you haven't noticed multiple big internet outages lately? And that was the stuff they deemed to be fit for production.
Show threadMark OtwayMar 14
@nixCraft
That's literally my retirement plan, in about 4-5 years.
Show threadHisVirusnessMar 14
@nixCraft If this is the spark that finally makes code optimization more widespread, then I consider that a win.
Show threadeickotMar 14
@nixCraft one thing that a friend told me, (and I think he is in part right) a lot of companies will not care anymore of having 100% HA, if that means they pay a fraction of what they were paying.
Show threadLuna Dragofelis ΘΔ🏳️‍⚧️🐱6d ago
@eickot @nixCraft What is HA?
Show threadeickot6d ago
@LunaDragofelis @nixCraft High availability.
Show threadBenderIsGreat34Mar 14
@nixCraft @dgar In the meantime there’s always gig work and selling body parts on the black market.
Show threadcaravantravellers 🌈Mar 14

@nixCraft

Visual Basic wasn't the first promise that users would be able to write their own software. FORTRAN (for technicians) and COBOL (for business people) came up in the 1950s. Later SQL queries promised to make it easy for analysts to get results.

Show threadcanleaf08✅ 加拿大葉子 🏳️‍🌈⚧️🇪🇺🍁Mar 14
@nixCraft Maybe some monolith like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook having gone bust is a good thing.
Show threadRenke MeuweseMar 14
@canleaf @nixCraft yeah, this feels like a nuclear power waiting for its Chernobyl.
Show threadKim Crawley 😷 (she/her)Mar 14

@nixCraft

Please check out https://stopgenai.com

Stop Gen AI – Mutual Aid and Political Activism

Show threadRenke MeuweseMar 14
@nixCraft is it really good at "explore design alternatives, summarize complex systems" though? Are its summaries actually any good? Are the alternatives offered truly good options to consider?
Show threadkodegeekMar 15

@nixCraft The main issue with AI is lazy people. AI is like a contractor, you have to be very specific to get the good results you want, otherwise you get sloppy stuff.

I would not wait too long before companies start asking for people who can still read documentation and work without Internet, just wait for the next big system crash.

Show threadKevin Karhan 5d ago

@nixCraft I'd charge €1k upfront as deposit just to even consider reinstalling the #IT.

  • I'm not gonna bother looking at #SlopCode - period!
Show threadReid 5d ago
@nixCraft so AI is basically this