Earlier quoted context omitted.
Understanding (not necessarily reading) always was the real work. AI makes people less productive because it's speeding up the thing that wasn't hard (generating code), while generating additional burden on the thing that was hard (understanding the code).
There are many cases in which I already understand the code before it is written. In these cases AI writing the code is pure gain. I do not need to spend 30 minutes learning how to hold the bazel rule. I do not need to spend 30 minutes to write client boilerplate. List goes on. All broad claims about AI's effects on productivity have counterexamples. It is situational. I think most competent engineers quietly using A…
Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
21–30 of 112 posts
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#22Seems like reading the code is now the real work. AI writes PRs instantly but reviewing them still takes time. Everything flipped. Expect more projects to follow - maintainers can just use ai themselves without needing external contributions.
Understanding (not necessarily reading) always was the real work. AI makes people less productive because it's speeding up the thing that wasn't hard (generating code), while generating additional burden on the thing that was hard (understanding the code).
The productivity gets siphoned to the AI companies owning the AI.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#23Seems like reading the code is now the real work. AI writes PRs instantly but reviewing them still takes time. Everything flipped. Expect more projects to follow - maintainers can just use ai themselves without needing external contributions.
This is probably true, and while I expect productivity to go up, I also expect "FOSS maintainer burnout" to skyrocket in the coming years. Everyone knows reading code is one-hundredth as fun as writing it, and while we have to accept some amount of reading as the "eating your vegetables" part of the job, FOSS project maintainers are often in a precarious enough position as it is re: job satisfaction. I think having t…
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#24> If the job market is unfavourable to juniors, become senior.
That requires networking with a depth deep enough that other professionals are willing to critique your work.
So... open-source contributions, I guess?
This increases pressure on senior developers who are the current maintainers of open-source packages at the same time that AI is stealing the attention economy that previously rewarded open-source work.
Seems like we need something like blockchain gas on open-source PRs to reduce spam, incentivize open-source maintainers, and enable others to signal their support for suggestions while also putting money where their mouth is.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#25That's interesting; another project stopped letting users directly open issues: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46460319
Check Ghostty "CONTRIBUTING.md#ai-assistance-notice" "The Ghostty project allows AI-assisted code contributions, which must be properly disclosed in the pull request." https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/blob/main/CONTRIBUTIN... Mitchell Hashimoto (2025-12-30): "Slop drives me crazy and it feels like 95+% of bug reports, but man, AI code analysis is getting really good. There are users out there reporting bugs tha…
> @zeroxBigBoss: .. It's not all AI, I have experience with Zig and MacOS, ..
> @mitchellh: I appreciate it! And my bad on the experience, I must have misunderstood or misremembered your messages
Use xcancel. For the very least to see an entire thread.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#26Seems like reading the code is now the real work. AI writes PRs instantly but reviewing them still takes time. Everything flipped. Expect more projects to follow - maintainers can just use ai themselves without needing external contributions.
In the civic tech hacknight community I'm part of, it's hard to collaborate the same now, at least when people are using AI. Mostly because now code often feels so disposable and fast. It's like the pace layers have changed It's been proposed that we start collaborating in specs, and just keep regenerating the code like it's CI, to get back to the feeling of collaboration without holding back on the energy and speed…
I really like this thought. We used to take pride in elegant solutions and architectural designs. Now, in the era of shipping fast and AI, this has been disregarded. Redundancy is everywhere, spaghetti is normalized. AI code has always been unsettling for me and I think this is why.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the civic tech hacknight community I'm part of, it's hard to collaborate the same now, at least when people are using AI. Mostly because now code often feels so disposable and fast. It's like the pace layers have changed It's been proposed that we start collaborating in specs, and just keep regenerating the code like it's CI, to get back to the feeling of collaboration without holding back on the energy and speed…
> Mostly because now code often feels so disposable and fast I really like this thought. We used to take pride in elegant solutions and architectural designs. Now, in the era of shipping fast and AI, this has been disregarded. Redundancy is everywhere, spaghetti is normalized. AI code has always been unsettling for me and I think this is why.
I see a future where those that survive are doing mostly architecture work, and a few druids are hired by AI companies.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Understanding (not necessarily reading) always was the real work. AI makes people less productive because it's speeding up the thing that wasn't hard (generating code), while generating additional burden on the thing that was hard (understanding the code).
AI makes people less productive because it’s speeding up the thing that was hard: training AI for better future AI. The productivity gets siphoned to the AI companies owning the AI.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Check Ghostty "CONTRIBUTING.md#ai-assistance-notice" "The Ghostty project allows AI-assisted code contributions, which must be properly disclosed in the pull request." https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/blob/main/CONTRIBUTIN... Mitchell Hashimoto (2025-12-30): "Slop drives me crazy and it feels like 95+% of bug reports, but man, AI code analysis is getting really good. There are users out there reporting bugs tha…
You conveniently left off the follow up. > @zeroxBigBoss: .. It's not all AI, I have experience with Zig and MacOS, .. > @mitchellh: I appreciate it! And my bad on the experience, I must have misunderstood or misremembered your messages Use xcancel. For the very least to see an entire thread.
Re: Tldraw pauses external contributions due to AI slop
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Understanding (not necessarily reading) always was the real work. AI makes people less productive because it's speeding up the thing that wasn't hard (generating code), while generating additional burden on the thing that was hard (understanding the code).
AI makes people less productive because it’s speeding up the thing that was hard: training AI for better future AI. The productivity gets siphoned to the AI companies owning the AI.