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AI coding is gambling

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191–200 of 471 posts

Re: AI coding is gambling

#191

Post by FL4TLiN3 »

In my corner of the world, average software developers at Tokyo companies, not that many people are actually using Claude Code for their day-to-day work yet. Their employers have rolled it out and actively encourage adoption, but nobody wants to change how they work.

This probably won't surprise anyone familiar with Japanese corporate culture: external pressure to boost productivity just doesn't land the same way here. People nod, and then keep doing what they've always done.

It's a strange scene to witness, but honestly, I'm grateful for it. I've also been watching plenty of developers elsewhere get their spirits genuinely crushed by coding agents, burning out chasing the slot machine the author describes. So for now, I'm thankful I still get to see this pastoral little landscape where people just... write their own code.

Re: AI coding is gambling

#192

Post by dolebirchwood »

mkehrt wrote: post #134
pdntspa wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the programming is and was always a means to an end. Obsessing over the specific mechanical act of programming is taking the forest for the trees. I agree with gp that the speed in which I am able to execute my vision is exhilarating. It is making me love programming again. My side projects, which have been hanging on the wall for years , are actually getting done. And quickly! The actual act of keying in cod…

None of my side projects are things where I want the output. They're all things where I want to write the code myself so I understand it better. AI is antithetical to this.

I have three side projects that revolve around taking public access data from shitty, barely usable local government websites, and then using that data to build more intuitive and useful UIs around them. They're portfolio pieces, but also a public service. I already know how to build all of these systems manually, but I have better things to do. So, hell yeah I'm just going to prompt my way to output. If the code works, I don't care how it was written, and neither do the members of my community who use my free sites.

Re: AI coding is gambling

#193

Post by niccl »

sedawkgrep wrote: post #93
copypaper wrote: post #47

You got to know when to Ship it, Know when to Re-prompt, Know when to Clear the Context, And know when to RLHF. You never trust the Output, When you’re staring at the diff view, There’ll (not) be time enough for Fixing, When the Tokens are all spent.

You're a gamblin' man, I see...

thank you. I knew there was something I was missing

Re: AI coding is gambling

#194

Post by cess11 »

pdntspa wrote: post #142
mkehrt wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of my side projects are things where I want the output. They're all things where I want to write the code myself so I understand it better. AI is antithetical to this.

All of my side projects scratch an itch, so I do want the output. There are not enough hours in the day for me to make all the things I want to make. Code is just the vessel, and one I am happy to outsource if I can maintain a high standard of work. It's a blessing to finally find a workflow that makes me feel like I have a shot at building most of the things I want to.

Are these things that no one previously built and published, so you can go and take a look at their implementation?

Re: AI coding is gambling

#195

Post by poszlem »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #104
itsgrimetime wrote: post #92

All of this new capability has made me realize that the reason i love programming _isn't_ the same as the OP. I used to think (and tell others) that I loved understanding something deeply, wading through the details to figure out a tough problem. but actually, being able to will anything I can think of into existence is what I love about programming. I do feel for the people who were able to make careers out of falli…

> but I finally feel like I'm _good_ at programming, which is insane, because I literally haven't written a line of code myself in months This is exactly the sort of mentality that makes me hate this technology You finally feel good at programming despite admitting that you aren't actually doing it Please explain why anyone should take this seriously?

Why do you feel good about programming despite not writing in machine code?

Re: AI coding is gambling

#196

Post by sarchertech »

simonw wrote: post #77
sarchertech wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s very true. But interns aren’t supposed to be doing useful work. The purpose of interns is training interns and identifying people who might become useful at a later date. I’ve never worked anywhere where the interns had net productivity on average.

Replace "intern" with "coworker" and my comment still holds.

It worked with interns because interns are temporary workers. It doesn’t work with coworkers because you get to know them over time, you can teach them over time, and you can pick which ones you work with to some degree.

To come up with an analogy that works at all for AI, it would have to be something like temporary workers who code fast, and read fast, but go home at the end of the day and never return.

You can make a lot of valuable software managing a team like that working on the subset of problems that the team is a good fit for. But I wouldn’t work there.

Re: AI coding is gambling

#198

Post by Obscurity4340 »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #139
m00x wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI coding is gambling on slot machines, managing developers is betting on race horses.

Only if your AI coding approach is the slot machine approach. I've ended up with a process that produces very, very high quality outputs. Often needing little to no correct from me. I think of it like an Age of Empires map. If you go into battle surrounded by undiscovered parts of the map, you're in for a rude surprise. Winning a battle means having clarity on both the battle itself and risks next to the battle.

Would you mind sharing some of your findings?

Re: AI coding is gambling

#199

Post by deadbabe »

yoyohello13 wrote: post #144
watzon wrote: post #110

I think this article makes a valid point. However, if AI coding is considered gambling, then being a project manager overseeing multiple developers could also be seen as a form of gambling to a certain degree. In reality, there isn't much difference between the two. AI models are non-deterministic, and humans are also non-deterministic. You could assign the same task to two different developers and end up with entire…

I think the addiction angle seems to make AI coding more similar to gambling. Some people seem to be disturbingly addicted to agentic coding. Much more so than traditional programming. To the point of doing destructive things like waking up in the middle of the night to check agents. Or giving an agent access to their bank account.

I know at least one case where the obsession with agents ruined a marriage.

Re: AI coding is gambling

#200

Post by interestpiqued »

Terr_ wrote: post #36

I'd emphasize that prompting LLMs to generate code isn't just metaphorical gambling in the sense of "taking a risk", the scary part is the more-literal gambling involving addictive behaviors and how those affect the way the user interacts with the machine and the world. Heck, this technology also offers a parasocial relationship at the same time! Plopping tokens into a slot-machine which also projects a holographic "…

I think AI literally makes even being wrong feel like getting something done. And that is the addictive part for people.
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