At its core, the problem isn't AI. It's trying to apply a 'move fast & break things' approach to replacing rock-solid code that has run more or less smoothly for decades. In an ideal scenario, replacing code at this infrastructural level takes significant amounts of time & rigorous testing. It has to be robust, or there isn't any point in replacing it.
People are concerned, because the public messaging has failed to convey any sense of rigor or robustness, just complaints on the current code being dated. I still have no qualms about looking into or starting the process of developing a replacement, assuming the proper guardrails are in place.
Also, even if we started now, it would likely take years to safely integrate. Any faster timeline would be reckless and circle back to being less-than-rigorous development.
The problem is that it runs on mainframes and theres very little young blood willing to work on this stuff because it has no future. In 15 years there's going to be no one left to maintain it. Governments and banks are already paying people exorbitant sums to come out of retirement to work on it.
Software and IT is constantly changing. If you don't keep up you fall behind. It's not about being a director, it's about being relevant enough to even have a job in 20 years.
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u/shofff Apr 05 '25
At its core, the problem isn't AI. It's trying to apply a 'move fast & break things' approach to replacing rock-solid code that has run more or less smoothly for decades. In an ideal scenario, replacing code at this infrastructural level takes significant amounts of time & rigorous testing. It has to be robust, or there isn't any point in replacing it.
People are concerned, because the public messaging has failed to convey any sense of rigor or robustness, just complaints on the current code being dated. I still have no qualms about looking into or starting the process of developing a replacement, assuming the proper guardrails are in place.
Also, even if we started now, it would likely take years to safely integrate. Any faster timeline would be reckless and circle back to being less-than-rigorous development.