Post by Ela

@ela for a dayjob where you’re supposed to build something it’s a drag though. higher throughput expected, disconnected from your work, always expecting bugs to sneak through but you can’t review all that stuff, so you let go, do the minimal. i expect it will go the same where it’s introduced for other work.

@zauberlaus Quite honestly, same kind of pressure that used to let tech debt slip through in the past.

@ela "in the right hands!" - how many "right hands" do you know and what is the percentage overall in "can operate a computer without hurting themselves"?

@lobingera Same as before AI, really. But the caliber of the foot shooting gun admittedly became bigger.

@ela speaking for myself, I certainly see the benefits of experts using generative AI in their field of expertise where a user is willing and able to spot mistakes in the generated output. A force multiplier, yes.

However, the current generative AI mania is fully driven by using it outside of the users' field of expertise. "A PhD in your pocket" is the literal ad copy. The organisations pushing the use of generative AI are using it to replace human expertise and craft, without understanding if the plausible-looking generative AI results are correct. This way lies madness and one day we're going to be very sorry looking back at the many failures, cruelty and general downdumbing caused by AI use in our current era.

Anyway, since you're generalising about how AI opponents sound to you, let me clap back that these "True, I share concerns about the AI industry, but my coding assistant is great for me and I'm only using it ethically unlike everybody else around me" comments like yours sound like so many white-lie responses by meat eaters to the ostensibly annoying vegan: "Sure, you have a point about the global-scale negative effects of the meat industry, but I eat less meat than average and only buy from the organic butcher."

@hzulla I'd like to be very specific here. The ethical debate is legit, and I don't even claim ethical AI usage for myself. However, any attemt to frame this debate as "AI does not work" is bound to fail.

@ela “But oh girl is it a power amplifier in the right hands!” can I quote you on the pro “AI-driving license” and “controlled access to the technology” stance?

@cristianyxen That is a statement about the outcome of usage, not a call for control. In the end, it's a rehash of the age old dual use discussion, where I still firmly believe I cannot do proper defense without having tools for offense. Defenders are already at a disadvantage as we speak, with the existing laws in place.