There is an important concept alluded to here around skin in the game: "the AI is not going to assume any liability if this code ever malfunctions" -- it is one of the issues I see w/ self-driving cars, planes, etc. If it malfunctions, there is no consequence for the 'AI' (no skin in the game) but there are definitely consequences for any humans involved.
Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
61–70 of 464 posts
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#62"do not work for me", I believe, is the key message here. I think a lot of AI companies have crafted their tools such that adoption has increased as the tools and the output got better. But there will always be a few stragglers, non-normative types, or situations where the AI agent is just not suitable.
Maybe, but there's also some evidence that AI coding tools aren't making anyone more productive. One study from last year found that there was no increase in developer velocity but a dramatic increase in bugs.[1] Granted, the technology has advanced since this study, but many of the fundamental issues of LLM unreliability remain. Additionally, a recent study has highlighted the significant cognitive costs associated with offloading problem-solving onto LLMs, revealing that individuals who do so develop significantly weaker neural connectivity than those who don't [2].
It's very possible that AI is literally making us less productive and dumber. Yet they are being pushed by subscription-peddling companies as if it is impossible to operate without them. I'm glad some people are calling it out.
[1] https://devops.com/study-finds-no-devops-productivity-gains-...
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#63It’s harder to read code than it is to write it, that’s true.
But it’s also faster to read code than to write it. And it’s faster to loop a prompt back to fixed code to re-review than to write it.
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#64I'm actually quite bearish on AI in the generative space, but even I have to admit that writing boilerplate is "N" times faster using AI (use your favorite N). I hate when people claim this without any proof, so literally today this is what I asked ChatGPT:
write a stub for a react context based on this section (which will function as a modal):
```
// a bunch of stuff
```
Now, I can just do `const myModal = useModal(...)` in all my components. Cool. This saved me at least 30 minutes, and 30 minutes of my time is worth way more than 20 bucks a month. (N.B.: All this boilerplate might be a side effect of React being terrible, but that's beside the point.)
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#65This article is just simply not true for most people who have figured out how to use AI properly when coding. Since switching to Cursor, my coding speed and efficiency has probably increased 10x conservatively. When I'm using it to code in languages I've used for 25+ years, it's a breeze to look over the function it just saved me time by pre-thinking and typing it out for me. Could I have done it myself, yeah, but it would have taken longer if I even had to go lookup one tiny thing in the documentation, like order of parameters for a function, or that little syntax thing I never use...
Also, the auto-complete with tools like Cursor are mind blowing. When I can press tab to have it finish the next 4 lines of a prepared statement, or it just knows the next 5 variables I need to define because I just set up a function that will use them.... that's a huge time saver when you add it all up.
My policy is simple, don't put anything AI creates into production if you don't understand what it's doing. Essentially, I use it for speed and efficiency, not to fill in where I don't know at all what I'm doing.
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#66[dead]
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You might prefer manual coding, but you might just be bad at AI coding and you might prefer it if you improved at it. ok but how much am I supposed to spend before I supposedly just "get good"? Because based on the free trials and the pocket change I've spent, I don't consider the ROI worth it.
You're going to spend a little over $1k to ramp up your skills with AI-aided coding. It's dirt cheap in the grand scheme of things.
How are those without that kind of scratch supposed to keep up with those that do?
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#68What really baffles me is the claims from:
Anthropic: 80% of the code is generated by AI
OpenAI: 70-80%
Google/Microsoft: 30%
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#69This article is just simply not true for most people who have figured out how to use AI properly when coding. Since switching to Cursor, my coding speed and efficiency has probably increased 10x conservatively. When I'm using it to code in languages I've used for 25+ years, it's a breeze to look over the function it just saved me time by pre-thinking and typing it out for me. Could I have done it myself, yeah, but it…
Out of curiosity how much are you spending on AI?
How much do you believe a programmer needs to layout to “get good”?
Re: Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
#70Everyone is still thinking about this problem the wrong way. If you are still running one agent, on one project at a time, yes, its not going to be all that helpful if you are already a fast, solid coder. Run three, run five. Prompt with voice annotation. Run them when normally you need a cognitive break. Run them while you watch netflix on another screen. Have them do TDD. Use an orchestrator. So many more options.…
I have never seen people work harder to dismantle their own industry than software engineers are right now.
We've been automating ourselves out of our jobs as long as we've had them; somehow, despite it all, we never run out of work to do.