Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been starting to think of it like this: Great Engineer + AI = Great Engineer++ (Where a great engineer isn't just someone who is a great coder, they also are a great communicator & collaborator, and love to learn) Good Engineer + AI = Good Engineer OK Engineer + AI = Mediocre Engineer
Is there a difference between "OK" and "Mediocre"?
AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
101–110 of 482 posts
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
> AI is only as smart as the human handling it. I think I'm slowly coming around to this viewpoint too. I really just couldn't understand how so many people were having widely different experiences. AI isn't magic; how could I have expected all the people I've worked with who struggle to explain stuff to team members, who have near perfect context, to manage to get anything valuable across to an AI? I was original pr…
I've been starting to think of it like this: Great Engineer + AI = Great Engineer++ (Where a great engineer isn't just someone who is a great coder, they also are a great communicator & collaborator, and love to learn) Good Engineer + AI = Good Engineer OK Engineer + AI = Mediocre Engineer
He took a couple days doing this, which was shocking to me. Such a waste of time that would have been better spent reading the code and improving any missing documentation - and most importantly asking teammates about necessary context that couldn't just be inferred from the code.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#103How does this not lead to a situation where no honest person can use any AI in their submissions? Surely pull requests that acknowledge AI tooling will be given significantly less attention, on the grounds that no one wants to read work that they know is written by AI.
Make a knowledgeable reply and mention you used chat-gpt - comment immediately buried. Make a knowledgeable reply and give no reference to the AI you used- comment is celebrated. We are already barreling full speed down the "hide your AI use" path.
If the PR has issues and requires more than superficial re-work to be acceptable, the authors don't want to spend time debugging code spit out by an AI tool. They're more willing to spend a cycle or two if the benefit is you learning (either generally as a dev or becoming more familiar with the project). If you can make clear that you created or understand the code end to end, then they're more likely to be willing to take these extra steps.
Seems pretty straightforward to me and thoughtful by the maintainers here.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> AI is only as smart as the human handling it. I think I'm slowly coming around to this viewpoint too. I really just couldn't understand how so many people were having widely different experiences. AI isn't magic; how could I have expected all the people I've worked with who struggle to explain stuff to team members, who have near perfect context, to manage to get anything valuable across to an AI? I was original pr…
I've been struggling to apply AI on any large scale at work. I was beginning to wonder if it was me. But then my wife sort of handed me a project that previously I would have just said no to, a particular Android app for the family. I have instances of all the various Android technologies under my belt, that is, I've used GUI toolkits, I've used general purpose programming languages, I've used databases, etc, but wit…
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
When one side has much more "scalability" than the other, then the other side has very strong motivation to match up. - People use AI to write cover letters. If the companies don't filter out them automatically, they're screwed. - Companies use AI to interview candidates. No one wants to spend their personal time talking to a robot. So the candidates start using AI to take interviews for them. etc. If you don't at le…
Both sides will use AI and it will ultimately increase economic productivity. Imagine living before the invention of the printing press, and then lamenting that we should ban them because it makes it "too easy" to distribute information and will enable "low quality" publications to have more reach. Actually, this exact thing happened, but the end result was it massively disrupted the world and economy in extremely po…
In some cases sure but it can also create the situation where people just waste time for nothing (think AI interviewing other AIs - this might generate GDP by people purchasing those services but I think we can all agree that this scenario is just wasting time and resource without improving society).
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been starting to think of it like this: Great Engineer + AI = Great Engineer++ (Where a great engineer isn't just someone who is a great coder, they also are a great communicator & collaborator, and love to learn) Good Engineer + AI = Good Engineer OK Engineer + AI = Mediocre Engineer
I sort of think of it in terms of self-deskilling. If an OK engineer is still actively trying to learn, making mistakes, memorizing essentials, etc. then there is no issue. On the other hand, if they're surrendering 100% of their judgment to AI, then they will be mediocre.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
> AI is only as smart as the human handling it. I think I'm slowly coming around to this viewpoint too. I really just couldn't understand how so many people were having widely different experiences. AI isn't magic; how could I have expected all the people I've worked with who struggle to explain stuff to team members, who have near perfect context, to manage to get anything valuable across to an AI? I was original pr…
I've been starting to think of it like this: Great Engineer + AI = Great Engineer++ (Where a great engineer isn't just someone who is a great coder, they also are a great communicator & collaborator, and love to learn) Good Engineer + AI = Good Engineer OK Engineer + AI = Mediocre Engineer
Thats the reason for high valuation of AI companies.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#108I really appreciate this point from mitchellh. Giving thoughtful constructive feedback to help a junior developer improve is a gift. Yet it would be a waste of time if the PR submitter is just going to pass it to an AI without learning from it.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been struggling to apply AI on any large scale at work. I was beginning to wonder if it was me. But then my wife sort of handed me a project that previously I would have just said no to, a particular Android app for the family. I have instances of all the various Android technologies under my belt, that is, I've used GUI toolkits, I've used general purpose programming languages, I've used databases, etc, but wit…
What you are describing also seems to align with the idea that greenfield projects are well-suited for AI, whereas brownfield projects are considerably more challenging.
I suspect that well-engineered projects with plenty of test coverage and high-quality documentation will be easier to use AI on, just like they're easier for humans to comprehend. But you need to have somebody with the big picture still who can make sure that you don't just turn things into a giant mess once less disciplined people start using AI on a project.
Re: AI tooling must be disclosed for contributions
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> AI is only as smart as the human handling it. I think I'm slowly coming around to this viewpoint too. I really just couldn't understand how so many people were having widely different experiences. AI isn't magic; how could I have expected all the people I've worked with who struggle to explain stuff to team members, who have near perfect context, to manage to get anything valuable across to an AI? I was original pr…
I've been struggling to apply AI on any large scale at work. I was beginning to wonder if it was me. But then my wife sort of handed me a project that previously I would have just said no to, a particular Android app for the family. I have instances of all the various Android technologies under my belt, that is, I've used GUI toolkits, I've used general purpose programming languages, I've used databases, etc, but wit…
That's a good insights. Its almost like to use AI tools effectively, one needs to stop caring about the little things you'd get caught up in if you were already familiar and proficient in a stack. Style guidelines, a certain idiomatic way to do things, naming conventions, etc.
A lot like how I've stopped organizing digital files into folders, sub folders etc (along with other content) and now I just just rely on search. Everything is a flat structure, I don't care where its stored or how it's organized as long as I can just search for it, that's what the computer is for, to keep track for me so I don't have to waste time organizing it myself.
Like wise for the code Generative AI produces. I don't need to care about the code itself. As long as its correct, not insecure, and performant, it's fine.
It's not 100% there yet, I still do have to go in and touch the code, but ideally I shouldn't have to, nor should I have to care what the actual code looks like, just the result of it. Let the computer manage that, not me. My role should be the system design and specification, not writing the code.