111–120 of 205 posts
Congrats on the launch! Some thoughts: - Options are severely limited. Only Next.js and MUI? If there's only 1 stack, doesn't feel like there's any AI in going on - Would be nice to see some live template sites without having to connect my GitHub and run them manually. - This feels like cookiecutter, but for multiple languages and a nice wrapper. The GPT bit doesn't interest me (well, from a technical standpoint it d…
What license is applied to code generated by Second? Will Second accept liability if its bot generates code violating the GPL or other licenses? How about for damages arising from vulnerable or insecure code?
No offense but that demo video is pathetic not to mention the weird background music. Actually, I think the entire thing is way too rushed and you haven't thought this through at all. Are you seriously so desperate to ride this stupid AI hype that you couldn't do a better job at showcasing what the app can actually do? I am sorry for being so critical, but I believe I am right. With a free account, you can do like tw…
We need more direct criticism like this. I’m not even sure if this even needs AI in the first place or how this is any different to a boilerplate generator using templates. An AI can hallucinate and generate a broken codebase which means it needs to be checked again for its correctness. I guess if this was a web3 project template generator funded by YC, I would be seeing everyone including the mountains throwing heat…
While I have been expecting AI to replace programmers for a while, the thing I was never sure about whether this will manifest itself as a business for some companies or whether it means the end of people creating apps altogether. Another risk for building businesses on AI in general is that unlike with software that anyone can build (e.g. for a niche), AI solutions seem to be costly because they require a lot of dat…
I just released - https://vocalvoters.com/ It sends an AI generated letter to a congress person in a seconds. Users can edit it, but frankly the results are amazingly good. I bring it up because effectively exactly what you described - a shim on top of 4 APIs. (Code is open sourced, link on the site) The question is how will AI replace what I have? The AI might get better, but ultimately someone has to mail the lette…
Probably not [0]; oh, the output may read nicely, but letters to legislators, even when I was working in a state legislative office in the 1990s, before mass online template generated near-zero-user-effort spam letters were common (but not before organizations sent out template for people to use, or even xerox-and-add-name-and-signature near-zero-effort spam) mostly got read by interns and processed by a heuristic like this (for issues mail, constituent service is different):
(1) Is it from a constituent? No = done and file, Yes = continue.
(2) Is it for a specific, identifiable active bill before the body in which the legislator sits (including the other House) -- see (3), or is it a general issue or one before a different body (if it seems to be maybe about an active bill, but the information is insufficient to identify the bill readily, treat as the second) -- see (4)?
(3) Does it clearly support or oppose the bill? If so, record it in the running tally (creating it if necessary) of constituent support/opposition for that bill; file and done.
(4) Does it address an issue that the legislator has identified as important and has a message on? If so, respond with that message; file and done.
Literally, the ultimate constituent letter on a bill for effect (maximum effect, minimum chance of getting misinterpreted, minimum effort) was a postcard with sufficient address information to identify the sender as a constituent, a bill number, and "Support" or "Oppose".
I don't imagine individual issue letters are getting even that much attention these days, which is why all the serious activist trainings focus on live calls ass the "low effort but low effect" approach and visiting legislators offices as the high effort/high effect approach to influence. Letters and emails might get categorized and mined for propaganda use by legislators, but they aren't moving positions, and every new tool to spam legislators with them reinforces that effect. They are a placebo button, and incorporating AI technology to make a newer, fancier-looking placebo button isn't changing that.
[0] But at least it gets the federal legislative reps (almost) right (it makes the error of using the legal name of a Senator rather than the name they actually use publicly, and hey, if it was going to actually be read, nothing makes a better impression than using the wrong name), for state reps it gives me none of the actual reps, but three of the eight statewide Constitutional officers (the Governor, AG, and Secretary of State).
While I have been expecting AI to replace programmers for a while, the thing I was never sure about whether this will manifest itself as a business for some companies or whether it means the end of people creating apps altogether. Another risk for building businesses on AI in general is that unlike with software that anyone can build (e.g. for a niche), AI solutions seem to be costly because they require a lot of dat…
That said, you have exactly the same category of risk with hiring an employee or team. They could leave at any point also. You always have the option to contract in handcuffs or a notice period, but then the same applies to the AI tooling as well.
In the same way this can't end up much worse than cloud vendor lock-in either. Many businesses dream or discuss about being 'cloud agnostic' but realistically most are tightly coupled, especially around cost-of-change and institutional knowledge.
From the video, Second looks more like a UI wrapped over a boilerplate generators that have existed for quite a while. It's a pretty powerful one, and that can be very useful in itself but how is AI involved here? If it is, was it needed in the first place? I was expecting the inputs to be more along, "give me an app to manage a restaurant", but the inputs are modules (Forgot password, billing), which are generic pie…
Great question! So all of the files are generated with either compiles or GPT-3, or if the files already exist on the repo and need to be modified, the bots use GPT-3 code edits to modify the files. $299/project/month will sound expensive if you compare it to starter kits (usually free), templates (usually Also, yea pricing is hard! It may change.
ooh, a YC solo founder. congrats on launching! 1. your video demo's music is way too loud. blasted my apartment in the early morning and added nothing to the demo. i'd take a shitty loom video with your narration saying whats happening over this. 2. you'll have to overcome quite a lot of skepticism that this works beyond an initial demo. your video shows a very standard greenfield setup that doesnt really need AI to…
1. LOL! Sorry! Volume is tricky to get right. I'll fix this with my next video. 2. Agree 100%! Second bots are becoming more sophisticated, but the truth is I am still pretty early. The video on this post, and on the website, is actually about a month old. I had planned on making an updated video with more interesting scenarios, but I ran out of time! I will have an updated video within the next two weeks. I also nee…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just released - https://vocalvoters.com/ It sends an AI generated letter to a congress person in a seconds. Users can edit it, but frankly the results are amazingly good. I bring it up because effectively exactly what you described - a shim on top of 4 APIs. (Code is open sourced, link on the site) The question is how will AI replace what I have? The AI might get better, but ultimately someone has to mail the lette…
> It sends an AI generated letter to a congress person in a seconds. Users can edit it, but frankly the results are amazingly good. Probably not [0]; oh, the output may read nicely, but letters to legislators, even when I was working in a state legislative office in the 1990s, before mass online template generated near-zero-user-effort spam letters were common (but not before organizations sent out template for peopl…
> Literally, the ultimate constituent letter on a bill for effect (maximum effect, minimum chance of getting misinterpreted, minimum effort) was a postcard with sufficient address information to identify the sender as a constituent, a bill number, and "Support" or "Oppose".
That’s exactly what is provided. First line is a clear description, support / opposed in bold and the policy/law.
We used the billing info to verify they’re in district and provide the return address.
Phone number should also be provided for a call effort.
I was told they evaluate scales of issues, ie 10 letters from people in district might matter, 100 would matter a lot, 1000 would be a burning issue. That’s effectively all I’m trying to provide.
> for state reps it gives me none of the actual reps, but three of the eight statewide Constitutional officers (the Governor, AG, and Secretary of State).
Yeah, I automated what I could, I can manually enter / edit state reps and did for several states. Constitutional officers are mostly included because they can be pulled via api (plus their still parties who are often elected)