Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#1

Post by wronginternet4 » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 7:21 PM UTC

Curious who you all follow for thoughtful, well-balanced takes on AI, particularly in the context of software engineering. I’m especially interested in folks who are learning in public and pushing back on the hype, but maybe still actively using these tools in their day-to-day work and sharing that.

Kelsey Hightower was a standout for me during the whole crypto/NFT insanity. His commentary cut through the noise, and I really respected that.

I’m currently on an experimental team at work diving deep into a bunch of these tools. My evaluation of most of them as an IC tends to land somewhere between “this is complete garbage” and “okay, this has some real utility, but it’s not living up to the hype.” There’s just so much noise, especially from certain kinds of product people who seem convinced this tech is going to replace engineers entirely.

So if you’ve found people or places that offer actual signal in all of this, I’d love to hear about them.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#2

Post by cruzcampo » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 7:27 PM UTC

I can't help you, but I'd also be interested.

The hype cycle around AI feels unlike anything I've ever experienced. Like yes, obviously it's a useful tech, but it won't become a literal god-like figure as some of our industry leadership is convinced.

I'm not even convinced it'll become reliable enough to replace humans for most tasks. I'd love to find some fellow skeptics that still appreciate and report about the actual advantages of AI as a tool, not as a religious movement.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#3

Post by 9d » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 7:30 PM UTC

I will never use AI to any degree. Human minds are more than complex machines. We are creative in a way that can only be replicated by making more humans. Only a long enough time line will vindicate me.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#4

Post by thisdougb » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 8:01 PM UTC

https://antirez.com/news/148 (Redis creator)

I think he's doing an AI YouTube channel. He was quite rational with all the nosql hype back in the day, and seems to still be quite rational.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#5

Post by cheevly » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 8:37 PM UTC

9d wrote: post #3

I will never use AI to any degree. Human minds are more than complex machines. We are creative in a way that can only be replicated by making more humans. Only a long enough time line will vindicate me.

That’s because human minds tend to do things like performative behaviors to mend fragile egos. Also things like hunting, pooping, eating, and lots of other things that im not sure that AI should concern itself with. But congratulations on your complex human mind.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#6

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 8:40 PM UTC

cheevly wrote: post #5

9d wrote: post #3

I will never use AI to any degree. Human minds are more than complex machines. We are creative in a way that can only be replicated by making more humans. Only a long enough time line will vindicate me.

That’s because human minds tend to do things like performative behaviors to mend fragile egos. Also things like hunting, pooping, eating, and lots of other things that im not sure that AI should concern itself with. But congratulations on your complex human mind.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#7

Post by softwaredoug » Fri, Apr 18, 2025, 12:24 AM UTC

9d wrote: post #3

I will never use AI to any degree. Human minds are more than complex machines. We are creative in a way that can only be replicated by making more humans. Only a long enough time line will vindicate me.

You will never use AI that you know of..

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#8

Post by tejonutella » Fri, Apr 18, 2025, 1:33 AM UTC

I’m not a software engineer but I’m a data scientist and I’m pretty skeptical of it: https://open.substack.com/pub/tejo/p/why-ai-is-still-dumb-an...

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#9

Post by frankc » Fri, Apr 18, 2025, 2:56 AM UTC

9d wrote: post #3

I will never use AI to any degree. Human minds are more than complex machines. We are creative in a way that can only be replicated by making more humans. Only a long enough time line will vindicate me.

I wonder if this is what it was like for people when they learned that the earth revolved around the sun.

Re: Ask HN: Software Engineers to follow who have a healthy skepticism of AI

#10

Post by brutus1213 » Fri, Apr 18, 2025, 3:49 AM UTC

CS PhD here. I've been involved in deep learning for many years now, and generative AI for the last couple of years. I saw some other major revolutions in my life starting with the Internet/Web explosion and the Smartphone explosion. You can say cloud and social networking were significant events but I would not put them in the same class as the first two. I would put the current embodiment of VR and crypto on an even lower rung of the "society impact" ladder. My personal opinion is that Gen AI tech (particularly LLMs but perhaps also the related stuff - diffusion, MLLMs) are more like Internet and Smartphone as game changers for society. Now, for the Internet boom, there was a ton of hype. I don't recall smartphones being as frothy but maybe I am forgetting the froth that was Angry Birds. So while I agree there is way too much hype at the moment, I think this is going to be big.