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AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

simonwillison.net

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Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#111

Post by jcims »

fhd2 wrote: post #4

I feel agentic development is a time sink. Previously, I'd have an idea, sit on it for a while. In most cases, conclude it's not a good idea worth investing in. If I decided to invest, I'd think of a proper strategy to approach it. With agentic development, I have an idea, waste a few hours chasing it, then switch to other work, often abandoning the thing entirely. I still need to figure out how to deal with that, fo…

>With agentic development, I have an idea, waste a few hours chasing it, then switch to other work, often abandoning the thing entirely.

How much of this is because you don't trust the result?

I've found this same pattern in myself, and I think the lack of faith that the output is worth asking others to believe in is why it's a throwaway for me. Just yesterday someone mentioned a project underway in a meeting that I had ostensibly solved six months ago, but I didn't even demo it because I didn't have any real confidence in it.

I do find that's changing for myself. I actually did demo something last week that I 'orchestrated into existence' with these tools. In part because the goal of the demo was to share a vision of a target state rather than the product itself. But also because I'm much more confident in the output. In part because the tools are better, but also because I've started to take a more active role in understanding how it works.

Even if the LLMs come to a standstill in their ability to generate code, I think the practice of software development with them will continue to mature to a point where many (including myself) will start to have more confidence in the products.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#112

Post by co_king_3 »

rkomorn wrote: post #95
co_king_3 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So everything stays exactly the same? No, we get applications so hideously inefficient that your $3000 developer machine feels like it it's running a Pentium II with 256 MB of RAM. We get software that's as slow as it was 30 years ago, for no reason other than our own arrogance and apathy.

I find it hard to disagree with this (sadly). I do feels things in general are more "snappy" at the OS level, but once you get into apps (local or web), things don't feel much better than 30 years ago. The two big exceptions for me are video and gaming. I wonder how people who work in CAD, media editing, or other "heavy" workloads etc, feel.

> I wonder how people who work in CAD, media editing, or other "heavy" workloads etc, feel.

I would assume (generally speaking) that CAD and video editing applications are carefully designed for efficiency because it's an important differentiator between different applications in the same class.

In my experience, these applications are some of the most exciting to use, because I feel like I'm actually able to leverage the power of my hardware.

IMO the real issue are bloated desktop apps like Slack, Discord, Spotify, or Claude's TUI, which consume massive amounts of resources without doing much beyond displaying text or streaming audio files.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#114

Post by imiric »

falloutx wrote: post #29

I am becoming more and more convinced that AI cant be used to make something better than what could have built before AI. You never needed 1000s of engineers to build software anyway, Winamp & VLC were build by less than four people. You only needed 1000s of people because the executive vision is always to add more useless junk into each product. And now with AI that might be even harder to avoid. This would mean the…

Wait, surely adding 10x more agents to my project will speed up development, improve the end product, and make me more productive by that same proportion, right?

I will task a few of them to write a perfectly detailed spec up front, break up the project into actionable chunks, and then manage the other workers into producing, reviewing, and deploying the code. Agents can communicate and cooperate now, and hallucination is a solved problem. What could go wrong?

Meanwhile, I can cook or watch a movie, and ocasionally steer them in the right direction. Now I can finally focus on the big picture, instead of getting bogged down by minutiae. My work is so valuable that no AI could ever replace me.

/s

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#115

Post by falloutx »

kvgr wrote: post #81
falloutx wrote: post #29

I am becoming more and more convinced that AI cant be used to make something better than what could have built before AI. You never needed 1000s of engineers to build software anyway, Winamp & VLC were build by less than four people. You only needed 1000s of people because the executive vision is always to add more useless junk into each product. And now with AI that might be even harder to avoid. This would mean the…

I just build a programming language in couple of hours, complete with interpreter with claude code. I know nothing about designing and implementing programming languages: https://github.com/m-o/MoonShot .

Yes, my point is that it was possible to build it before AI and in much less effort than people imagine. People in college build an interpreter in the less than couple weeks anyway and that probably has more utility.

Consider two scenarios:

1) I try to build an interpreter. I go and read some books, understand the process, build it in 2 weeks. Results: I have a toy interpreter. I understand said toy interpreter. I learnt how to do it, Learnt ideas in the field, applied my knowledge practically.

2) I try to build an interpreter. I go and ask claude to do it. It spits out something which works: Result: I have black box interpreter. I dont understand said interpreter. I didnt build any skills in building it. Took me less than an hour.

Toy interpreter is useless in both scenarios but Scenario one pay for the 2 week effort, while Scenario 2 is a vanity project.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#116

Post by g-mork »

latexr wrote: post #97

> the productivity boost these things can provide is exhausting . What I personally find exhausting is Simon¹ constantly discovering the obvious. Time after time after time it’s just “insights” every person who smoked one blunt in college has arrived at. Stop for a minute! You don’t have to keep churning out multiple blog posts a day, every day. Just stop and reflect . Sit back in your chair and let your mind rest. W…

They have established themselves as a reliable communicator of the technology, they are read far and wide, that means they are in a great position to influence the industry-wide tone, and I'm personally glad they are bringing light to this issue. If it upsets you that someone else wrote about something you understood, perhaps consider starting a blog of your own.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#117

Post by rvz »

falloutx wrote: post #32
mrtksn wrote: post #8

Computer languages were the lathe for shaping the machines to make them do whatever we want, AI is a CNC. Another abstraction layer for making machines do whatever we want them to do.

100% disagree. CNC is a precision machine while AI is the literal opposite of precision.

Tell them again.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#118

Post by FeteCommuniste »

ttoinou wrote: post #109
wolfcola wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edited: quote misattributed

It’s called the market. If you can compete while providing better life balance, go ahead and compete with those bad companies

It's called the market. If you can compete while not employing eight year olds on your assembly lines and dumping carcinogens in the river, go ahead and compete with those bad companies.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#119

Post by wolfcola »

ap99 wrote: post #12
singularfutur wrote: post #10

This is not a technology problem. AI intensifies work because management turns every efficiency gain into higher output quotas. The solution is labor organization, not better software.

This argument has been used against every new technology since forever. And the initial gut reaction is to resist by organizing labor. Companies that succumb to organized labor get locked into that speed of operating. New companies get created that adopt 'the new thing' and blow old companies away. Repeat.

Do you like working 8 hours a day instead of 12? 5 days a week instead of 7? You can thank organized labor.

Re: AI doesn’t reduce work, it intensifies it

#120

Post by mcny »

ttoinou wrote: post #109
wolfcola wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edited: quote misattributed

It’s called the market. If you can compete while providing better life balance, go ahead and compete with those bad companies

> It’s called the market. If you can compete while providing better life balance, go ahead and compete with those bad companies

With friends like you, who needs enemies? Imagine if we said that about everything. Go ahead and start a garment factory with unlocked exit doors and see if you can compete against these bad garment companies. Go ahead and start your own coal mines that pay in real money and not funny money only redeemable at the company store. Go ahead and start your own factory and guarantee eight hours work, eight hours sleep, eight hours recreation. It is called a market, BRO‽

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