The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
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The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
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Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#2> LLM’s amplify what you already have: opinions, structure, frameworks.
So far, so agreeable, but…
> If you have thoughts, they come out sharper and faster.
I can’t help but wonder whether constant use of “agent” harnesses will lead to an atrophy of the software engineering (or really any field) muscles.
Actual muscles need exercise to stay in shape (let alone grow), so does the brain. Can we really be sure that thoughts, opinions, taste will still come out sharper and faster after five, ten, 20 years of using these tools almost every day?
Conversely, I also am a user of LLMs (true shocker these days, I know), and am noticing a speedup in areas I was already familiar with, and a quicker introduction to new ones. The obvious benefit cannot be denied, and doing so regardless makes you look uninformed. [0]
So what’s the ideal “middle ground” in this situation? Stoically continuing to sharpen your skills on your own, but risking being left in the dust productivity-wise? Or taking an “agent first” approach and trying to learn and improve more only on the side, as more of an afterthought?
[0] Excluding people who don’t want anything to do with LLMs out of moral principle, which curiously just like the overarching topic I also both respect and understand, but on the other hand don’t do myself.
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#3At what point would one say that the LLM critics were wrong in their load-bearing (yes I used it) claims?
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#4The trust problem feels more important than whether the code was AI-assisted. A small, reproducible change with clear tests is reviewable; a huge opaque diff is not, regardless of who typed it.
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#5The implication is that LLM critics don't use LLMs at all, or that the author is not an LLM critic, but both of those things are incorrect. We are very good at inventing entire people out of single opinions we read, and the AI arguments are maybe the best example of that I've ever seen in my many years watching internet arguments (not least due to the expansiveness of AI, and the sheer breadth of pros and cons it holds within).
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#6> LLM’s amplify what you already have: opinions, structure, frameworks. So far, so agreeable, but… > If you have thoughts, they come out sharper and faster. I can’t help but wonder whether constant use of “agent” harnesses will lead to an atrophy of the software engineering (or really any field) muscles. Actual muscles need exercise to stay in shape (let alone grow), so does the brain. Can we really be sure that thou…
> I can’t help but wonder whether constant use of “agent” harnesses will lead to an atrophy of the software engineering (or really any field) muscles.
For sure. You cannot have "only higher level thoughts" without doing lower level work.
Ironically llm themselves prove that because you cannot remove facts like 'paris is capital of france' from llm and have it just retain 'high level thoughts' like 'countries have capitals that you can look up'
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#7>as a senior, you don’t need juniors anymore. The mundane tasks, at least I find that a lot of people agree with that one, can be fully outsourced to an LLM
Master craftsmen didn't take on apprentices to give them chores.
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#8> And this is where the value is for me: I can simply make things higher quality than I could do them alone.
Yeah, that's the thing for me. LLMs have made my work easier and faster, and they've made my side projects easier and faster. I think there are very sensible and valid critiques but so far the tool works for me.
Re: The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway
#9At what point would one say that the LLM critics were wrong in their load-bearing (yes I used it) claims?
When AI frontier labs fire all their engineers.