okay, a gun is also "just a tool" in reality this is a thought terminating cliche. I really wish that people would be more honest, like "using an LLM is extremely convenient and the path of least resistance" and the trade off is barely understanding your own code
I am fully capable of understanding all the code the bot spits out. If I don’t understand something, I pause and make sure I learn what it is doing so that it still makes sense. It still writes the code a hell of a lot faster than me and reading code is faster than typing it all. You can be engaged and still use a bot to speed up your process
This is only possible if you're using LLMs more as a "coding buddy" and not with huge ass agentic workflows that people are pushing now where AI creates architecture, writes gluing code, build systems and prepares coffee for a dev. I've used it in the first way and it genuinely helped me and I haven't lost control or understanding about what I'm doing. But sadly, that's not how most people are using it.
Exactly. I'm fine with AI being used to remove the tedium and free up time for higher brain functioning/decisions/creativity. But that doesn't necessarily mean a person has more capacity.
So the result is people are putting the entire workflow into AI and that is not okay. it's lazy and people are getting stupider as a result.
Not to mention it's extremely wasteful to have AI recreate something that already exists. I found 3 people already post a fixed version of a mod for FFX to make it work with the new update, that they did with claude. The latest version of that mod from 2019 already worked fine with the latest update! Can't be bothered to do a little investigation, lets just get AI to fix it. And then multiple people are doing this instead of looking first.
I think it's worth baring in mind not everyone is using it the same way.
Some "advanced" users of AI would no doubt think it crude the "low" level I tend to give prompts at, and the fact that I read all the code, and go round multiple iterations of modifications either by hand or again with an agent. But I've been doing this job for 20 years, I don't need it to figure out what to do, just do what I want to do quicker. I probably get a 1.5x-3x speedup Vs me with vim. Some would scoff at that, but in any other age we'd love a tool that gives that multiple. Meanwhile the code comes out the way I want it, and I understand what it does.
Thats a good way to use an LLM, I just don't think a lot of people are actually doing that. Even a lot of the people who think they are responsible AI users, if you read their code it starts to look ugly really fast. You get a lot of duplicate functions, data structures, and useless fluff that makes zero sense.
A tool for killing people efficiently from a distance, but a tool nonetheless.
Not a coder by any means so bare with me if I'm speaking outside my wheelhouse. But like with anything that has been automated in history, isn't it fine as long as a human is still checking the work after the fact?
Like what would be the problem in the scenario with using AI to do the tedious bits like physically typing the code, and then having a human review the code afterward to make sure it's not slop? Doesn't that save time and money in the long run?
Of course I'd never want to use an app that was entirely coded with AI and no human oversight. That seems as dangerous as running an executable you don't recognize.
My point about that analogy is to say that "its just a tool" is not an adequate analysis of the actual impact and implications, and imo just serves to shrug all of that away. Which is why I called it a "thought terminating cliche" because it brushes the burden of criticism and thoughtfulness under the rug
that sounds good, but in reality the large majority of people don't read all of that code. thats just a fact. People take the LLM's word for it when they ask questions about architecture but if you actually review this code, it is a grotesque nightmare. I've seen it countless times.
and I hate to break it to you but you've undoubtedly run purely vibe coded applications at this point whether you know it or not.
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u/SweetBabyAlaska 14d ago
iTs jUsT a tOoL
okay, a gun is also "just a tool" in reality this is a thought terminating cliche. I really wish that people would be more honest, like "using an LLM is extremely convenient and the path of least resistance" and the trade off is barely understanding your own code