Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Devin: AI Software Engineer

cognition-labs.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 604 posts

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#171

Post by esafak »

breadsniffer01 wrote: post #151
ThalesX wrote: post #73

As a developer but also product person, I keep trying to use AI to code for me. I keep failing, because of context length, because of shit output from the model, because of lack of any kind of architecture etc etc etc. I'm probably dumb as hell, because I just can't get it to do anything remotely useful, more than helping me with leetcode. Just yesterday I tried to feed it a simple HTML page to extract a selector, I…

A lot of startups are selling the dream/hype of not ever having to learn to code. Be aware that it’s hype. Learn to code if you want to build stuff. They will be tools for those that have the knowledge needed to effectively use them.

No code tools sell the same dream.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#172

Post by breadsniffer »

swalsh wrote: post #41
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #15

Although the demos are impressive, they seem short and limited in scope which makes me wonder how well this will work outside of these planned cases. Can it do software architecture at all? Is it still essentially just regurgitating solutions? How often will the solution only be 90% correct, which is 100% not good enough? Even so, I realize the demos are still broad in scope and the results are incredible. Imagine se…

Ah yes, you've entered the first stage of grief. Denial. Next you'll start bargaining, you'll get angry, and you'll become depressed, eventually you'll just accept that AI is taking over software. In my mind, I've concluded that I have less than 3 years to find an off ramp.

I've been using GPT-3 since its waitlist was out. Even then you saw demos like this claiming sentence -> full complete project. The demos will get fancier, but reality is much more complex than you think.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#173

Post by xcv123 »

CipherThrowaway wrote: post #112
ThalesX wrote: post #73

As a developer but also product person, I keep trying to use AI to code for me. I keep failing, because of context length, because of shit output from the model, because of lack of any kind of architecture etc etc etc. I'm probably dumb as hell, because I just can't get it to do anything remotely useful, more than helping me with leetcode. Just yesterday I tried to feed it a simple HTML page to extract a selector, I…

Ditto. I started out excited about LLMs and eager to use them everywhere, but have become steadily disillusioned as I have tried to apply them to daily tasks, and seen others try and fail in the same way. Honestly, LLMs can't even get language right. They produce generic, amateurish copy that reads like it's written by committee. GPT can't perform to the level of a middle market copywriter or content marketer. I am c…

> They produce generic, amateurish copy that reads like it's written by committee.

If you were only using GPT 3.5 (free ChatGPT) then your opinion is irrelevant.

With GPT-4 you could directly ask it: "rewrite your previous response so that it sounds less generic, less amateurish, and not written by a committee". I'm not even joking. Just provide enough information and tell it what to do. If you don't like the output then tell it what needs to be improved. It's not a mind reader.

Also GPT-4 is a year old now. Claude 3 is already superior and GPT-5 will be next level.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#174

Post by throwaway632 »

dukeyukey wrote: post #168
throwaway632 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If only I lived in the Bay Area. Or California. Or North America.

Where do you live? Are there other economic opportunities there for a smart, motivated ex-programmer?

Many programmers are good enough generalists to displace people in other jobs if the work dries up. Just like Teach for America college grads displace and outperform professional classroom teachers.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#175

Post by lkbm »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #75
andrewmutz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Instead it will mean that bosses can fire 75-90% of the (very expensive) engineers, with the ones who remain left to prompt the AI and clean up any mistakes/misunderstandings. We continually hear anxiety about technology leading to mass unemployment and it keeps not happening. Instead, workers tend to have higher productivity, which drives higher wages. Technological advancements transformed agriculture from being…

> Instead, workers tend to have higher productivity, which drives higher wages. Wages have not kept up with productivity.

It doesn't need to for productivity gains to be good for workers. Employment and real wages both are up. The fact that profits are also up doesn't change that.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#176

Post by breadsniffer »

mattlondon wrote: post #8

There is no way this is going to make it so that "engineers can focus on more interesting problems and engineering teams can strive for more ambitious goals." Instead it will mean that bosses can fire 75-90% of the (very expensive) engineers, with the ones who remain left to prompt the AI and clean up any mistakes/misunderstandings. I guess this is the future. We've coded ourselves out of a job. People are smiling an…

They're 100% shooting for being able to fire most engineers. That's the dream that allows raising a bunch of $$$. Just know there's a reason their product is a closed demo. Any working "agent" will require intervention. If a product requires intervention, you still need someone managing the AI and they just become software devs using a powerful tool.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#177

Post by eggdaft »

breadsniffer01 wrote: post #151
ThalesX wrote: post #73

As a developer but also product person, I keep trying to use AI to code for me. I keep failing, because of context length, because of shit output from the model, because of lack of any kind of architecture etc etc etc. I'm probably dumb as hell, because I just can't get it to do anything remotely useful, more than helping me with leetcode. Just yesterday I tried to feed it a simple HTML page to extract a selector, I…

A lot of startups are selling the dream/hype of not ever having to learn to code. Be aware that it’s hype. Learn to code if you want to build stuff. They will be tools for those that have the knowledge needed to effectively use them.

I’m actually really amazed by LLMs and think the world is going to change dramatically as a result.

But the “you won’t need to code” reminds me “you won’t need to learn to drive”.

It’s the messy interface with the real world in both cases that basically requires AGI.

If AGI is just a decade off then, yep, I won’t need to code. But a decade is a long time and, more importantly, we’re probably more than a decade away.

And even if it is “just round the corner”, worrying about not needing to code would be worrying about deckchairs on the titanic. AGI will probably mean the end of capitalism as we know it, so all bets are off at that point.

It’s wise to hedge a little but also realise that to date AI is just a coding productivity boost. The size of the boost depends on how trivial the code is. Most of the code I write isn’t trivial and AI is fairly useless at that, certainly it’s faster and more accurate to write it myself. You can get a 50% boost if you’re writing boiler plate all day, but then you have to wonder why you’re doing that in the first place.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#178

Post by ethanwillis »

golergka wrote: post #167
MSFT_Edging wrote: post #67

Humans seek work that provides satisfaction and meaning in their life. For every technological advancement, artisans are the first to be made obsolete. Sure we have landfills full of unworn textiles, the market says its good, but overall, we keep destroying what allows humans to seek meaning. Our governments and society have made it clear, if you don't produce value, you don't deserve dignity. We have outsourced art…

> What will be left? Where will we be? Just stranded without dignity or purpose, left to rot when we no longer produce value. Nobody stops you from paying $1000 for a shirt made by artisans right now. Do you want to? > Our governments and society have made it clear, if you don't produce value, you don't deserve dignity. It's not somebody else who decided that. It's you.

> Nobody stops you from paying $1000 for a shirt made by artisans right now. Do you want to?

If you don't do then your point is invalid. /s. Look, you dont have to pay $1000 for a shirt made by an artisan to get a quality shirt. It can be a bit more expensive, but much cheaper than that. And this can be true while being fair/reasonable to the artisan and also to the person acquiring it.

> It's not somebody else who decided that. It's you.

And what about my decisions? Or your decisions. Or anyone who is reading this's decisions? Surely the person you're replying to isn't some dictator who is deciding everything. It's not just the parent comment then. It's not just "It's you"

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#179

Post by mbwgh »

xcv123 wrote: post #173
CipherThrowaway wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto. I started out excited about LLMs and eager to use them everywhere, but have become steadily disillusioned as I have tried to apply them to daily tasks, and seen others try and fail in the same way. Honestly, LLMs can't even get language right. They produce generic, amateurish copy that reads like it's written by committee. GPT can't perform to the level of a middle market copywriter or content marketer. I am c…

> They produce generic, amateurish copy that reads like it's written by committee. If you were only using GPT 3.5 (free ChatGPT) then your opinion is irrelevant. With GPT-4 you could directly ask it: "rewrite your previous response so that it sounds less generic, less amateurish, and not written by a committee". I'm not even joking. Just provide enough information and tell it what to do. If you don't like the output…

If you haven't actually used GPT-5 yet, your assessment is irrelevant.

Re: Devin: AI Software Engineer

#180

Post by burningChrome »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #67

Humans seek work that provides satisfaction and meaning in their life. For every technological advancement, artisans are the first to be made obsolete. Sure we have landfills full of unworn textiles, the market says its good, but overall, we keep destroying what allows humans to seek meaning. Our governments and society have made it clear, if you don't produce value, you don't deserve dignity. We have outsourced art…

I often ask a similar question of what happens when we, as humans, have offloaded everything to technology, to AI to Robots? What kind of a society will we have then? When you no longer have to think about how to do something, or how to build or repair something, or create something original from your imagination.

I shudder to think the direction this is all leading to.

Post reply on HN