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Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

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Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#51

Post by jddj »

ThalesX wrote: post #24
danpalmer wrote: post #4

Let's assume that AI is human level (it's not, but humour me). Let's assume that businesses can buy an off-the-shelf black box of AI that will run whatever business IT process they want to run. Customer data goes in, actions for humans to perform come out. It's basically an automated call centre full of humans. Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Do you just…

> Being able to inspect the state of systems, and being able to manually change things in software, is incredibly valuable. I was hired as a CTO for a start-up that had a shitty solution (bad performance, bad practices - such as storing passwords in plaintext and customer service would just copy the password and log in the customer's account manually). They had a custom back-end where they were basically handcuffed t…

> It was truly satisfying to see those empty whiteboards.

The true measure of success of LoB apps. That, and genuinely insightful feature requests rather than workarounds

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#52

Post by mewpmewp2 »

danpalmer wrote: post #4

Let's assume that AI is human level (it's not, but humour me). Let's assume that businesses can buy an off-the-shelf black box of AI that will run whatever business IT process they want to run. Customer data goes in, actions for humans to perform come out. It's basically an automated call centre full of humans. Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Do you just…

But if the AI is human level then why not just let AI fix itself or create whatever fallback software needed itself?

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#53

Post by aitchnyu »

keeptrying wrote: post #6

How do you build Stripe payments with LLMs. Only very shallow SaaS may be killed with LLMs but not 98% of em.

Did we figure out GenAI thats beyond a mashup of Conway's Game of Life tutorials and Stack Overflow answers, which humans created hoping to be credited?

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#54

Post by wruza »

bruce511 wrote: post #28
FredPret wrote: post #8

Software is eating the world, but according to [0] there's only 27 million of us in the whole world. We need all the tools we can get to amplify our efforts. Further, I find that AI makes it much easier to dabble outside my wheelhouse and to interface with other technical people much quicker and better. Where I used to have to read endlessly to understand the context of unknown-to-me technology, now I can get that in…

There's no shortage of technical info on the internet. If you want to learn about networks or printing or Active Directory or databases or Windows APIs or Web Servers or security or whatever you like, it's sll there. Yes, the AI let's you ask questions and get answers. It's a more interactive approach, and it helps to clarify thinking, but having a solid foundation will always lead to better understanding. As someone…

There's no shortage of technical info on the internet

Right, but last time I checked it was behind pages of seo bullshit. I suspect many of us still have that inertia since our learning age, so knowing where to get information feels natural, while in reality it’s knowledge aquired with years or decades. Imagine forgetting all you know and trying to figure out the learning meta of that medium article. Multiply it by what google “search” is today. You’re basically screwed.

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#55

Post by yetihehe »

wruza wrote: post #48
danpalmer wrote: post #4

Let's assume that AI is human level (it's not, but humour me). Let's assume that businesses can buy an off-the-shelf black box of AI that will run whatever business IT process they want to run. Customer data goes in, actions for humans to perform come out. It's basically an automated call centre full of humans. Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Do you just…

Let's assume that AI is human level … Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Seems like you’re also assuming some AI-inherent problem which is left unexplained. If it’s a human level AI you tell it to solve the issue with the company’s philosophy in mind and wonder why off the shelf human level AI doesn’t have that in its “system prompt” or whatever term it will…

> If it’s a human level AI you tell it to solve the issue with the company’s philosophy in mind and wonder why off the shelf human level AI doesn’t have that in its “system prompt” or whatever term it will be.

That IF is very big case here.

> This whole problem is blown out of something that every AI-phobe seems to assume but keeps secret, which is a common trope at this point.

It happens again and again CURRENTLY that AI's behave exactly like Djinns. They do what you tell them, not always what you mean. Like, "Geologists Recommend Eating At Least One Small Rock Per Day". They make perfectly coherent advice, but sometimes it's hilariously wrong and AI doesn't know it's wrong. But people trust it anyway.

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#56

Post by wruza »

yetihehe wrote: post #55
wruza wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's assume that AI is human level … Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Seems like you’re also assuming some AI-inherent problem which is left unexplained. If it’s a human level AI you tell it to solve the issue with the company’s philosophy in mind and wonder why off the shelf human level AI doesn’t have that in its “system prompt” or whatever term it will…

> If it’s a human level AI you tell it to solve the issue with the company’s philosophy in mind and wonder why off the shelf human level AI doesn’t have that in its “system prompt” or whatever term it will be. That IF is very big case here. > This whole problem is blown out of something that every AI-phobe seems to assume but keeps secret, which is a common trope at this point. It happens again and again CURRENTLY th…

Yes, but that IF was introduced by this subthread’s OP themselves. Statements like that make no sense if it’s possible and not applicable otherwise. And everyone seems to be ok with that on HN, regularly. Notice how inconvenient comments get simply ignored.

What current “AI” does is irrelevant in this context, but I think you’re overdramatizing on this tangent a little. Almost everyone knows that 2024 AI still hallucinates and you can’t take its output at face value. Those who don’t know may be still researching or just generally gullible/nonanalytic. There’s no problem here, taking our regular baseline into account. People believe yellow press and influencers everyday.

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#57

Post by lasereyes136 »

danpalmer wrote: post #4

Let's assume that AI is human level (it's not, but humour me). Let's assume that businesses can buy an off-the-shelf black box of AI that will run whatever business IT process they want to run. Customer data goes in, actions for humans to perform come out. It's basically an automated call centre full of humans. Now something goes wrong. A customer isn't getting what they ordered. What do you do about it? Do you just…

> Companies are not going to entrust their business to a black box that sometimes says no.

Companies entrust their business to a black box that sometimes says no now. AI will not change that, and I agree it will get worse.

It is the irony of automation that some people still need the skills, knowledge, and abilities even more to fix problems that the automation can't fix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironies_of_Automation

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#58

Post by FredPret »

bruce511 wrote: post #28
FredPret wrote: post #8

Software is eating the world, but according to [0] there's only 27 million of us in the whole world. We need all the tools we can get to amplify our efforts. Further, I find that AI makes it much easier to dabble outside my wheelhouse and to interface with other technical people much quicker and better. Where I used to have to read endlessly to understand the context of unknown-to-me technology, now I can get that in…

There's no shortage of technical info on the internet. If you want to learn about networks or printing or Active Directory or databases or Windows APIs or Web Servers or security or whatever you like, it's sll there. Yes, the AI let's you ask questions and get answers. It's a more interactive approach, and it helps to clarify thinking, but having a solid foundation will always lead to better understanding. As someone…

Building a broad base certainly has always been possible, but it just got a lot quicker, is what I'm saying. And that speed leads to tighter feedback loops too.

Re: Back To Atoms: Why we can stop building SaaS and build the future instead.

#60

Post by youainti »

winrid wrote: post #7
keeptrying wrote: post #6

How do you build Stripe payments with LLMs. Only very shallow SaaS may be killed with LLMs but not 98% of em.

I can't even get an LLM to accurately demonstrate how to use the Stripe API except for very basic scenarios.

One change I expect to see over the next few years in API documentation is a series of complicated examples. This isn't for people to review, but for coding assistants to use as to inform RAG or something similar.
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