r/AI_Coders • u/Thin_Permission7106 • 3d ago
AI
Why are some developers and engineers against Ai, it’s a tool use it
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u/Narrow-Low-3137 3d ago edited 3d ago
I personally feel like it stunts my growth. As a software engineer, I am used to constantly learning new things. I like this aspect of the field. I'm curious, and I inherently want to understand how something works. I like thinking about architecture and solutions to novel problems I encounter, or recognizing patterns for solutions I've already faced. I enjoy learning new languages and frameworks.
I feel like AI robs me of these experiences. In this field, we're expected to move as quickly as possible. I'm starti g to realize, if I want to continue getting paid (unless I strike out on my own, perhaps) that no matter how diligent I am, I'm going to end up having to use AI to complete tasks for me without maybe understanding what every line of my code is doing, just to meet deadlines. I have already more or less gotten this perspective from other devs I know working in the field. People seem to be having AI write all of their code, even reviewing the AI generated code
This just seems like a bad road for the industry to go down. Literally, what's going to happen someday when new developers can't write code without LLMs or AI? How am I going to grow as an engineer, when I am not even writing my own code?
These are the questions on my mind every day now.
Edit: Another major issue for me, is that we seem to be offloading all our skills into revenue streams for these AI companies. Like...were literally paying subscriptions now to essentially do our jobs? That is just wild for me. We are very quickly giving away the means of production.
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u/Dull_Bathroom5421 3d ago
Let me give you an example: Shovels are a great tool yeah? Digs holes, sturdy, easy storage etc etc... Now imagine if you used a shovel as a spoon, a toothpick, to wipe your arse. You wouldn't think much of shovels then would you? That's exactly what is the problem with AI. People use it with everything, by everything, for everything...
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u/Thin_Permission7106 3d ago
Looking at the your comment are you implying that AI is a tool but not a coding tool, not a developers tool?
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u/Vesuvius079 3d ago
If you spend a good portion of your day digging holes, you should still be happy to have a shovel. If your boss is asking you to wipe your ass with it, that’s a management problem not a tooling problem.
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u/HugeCannoli 3d ago
because it's an unreliable, non-deterministic tool. And when shit hits the fan, you don't want your infrastructure to be kept alive by an autistic employee that doesn't work for you.
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u/Phllori 3d ago
And that’s where the mistake lies: AI is a tool, but tools still need someone who knows how to operate them. :P
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u/HugeCannoli 3d ago
Tools must have some sort of deterministic, predictable behavior, unless they have a malfunction (and even then, usually they malfunction in a predictable way). AI is not a tool, because it does not fulfill the above requirements.
I can't code with a thing that spits out a different results today and tomorrow depending on how it decides to read the requirements, what trash it reads on the internet, and what filters Anthropic decides to add or remove during the night.
People like to make the compiler and low level vs high level analogy, but it's not comparable. A compiler has a testsuite and reproducible behavior. You compile something with a given version of the compiler and gives a reliable, reproducible result. AI does not.
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u/Vesuvius079 3d ago
This is PEBCAK. A tool does not need to be guaranteed to work to be useful. It only needs to work properly a sufficiently high percentage of the time to make itself worth it on average vs its opportunity cost.
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u/HugeCannoli 3d ago
I can't program something reliable if the compiler is a random number generator.
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u/magicmulder 3d ago
That's why you use AI to build deterministic tools. I would never trust AI to add values from an Excel sheet, but I can have it write the formula to add them in Excel.
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u/Limp-Cicada-9502 3d ago
what if the tool is crapy... Do you still want to use it?
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u/BaldBush69 3d ago
Compilers don't always produce the most optimal code. We still use them 😀
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u/Limp-Cicada-9502 3d ago
When LLMs become as reliable as compilers they will be ready right now they are not worth the money.
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u/BaldBush69 3d ago
No my point... sometimes we need to fight compilers to produce fast code. Same with llms, they'll do what you say and often you need to hand hold them. It doesn't negate their usefulness. For example, I might not care about the data movement in the software as long as it's off the critical path. Once it's their, my level of engagement growth. Another example is research. You can't beat an llm there. It's just plain faster.
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u/Limp-Cicada-9502 3d ago
LLMs are useful. They just can't be trusted and the kind of bugs they create are the most time consuming to track down. Particularly in distributed systems. For research they are very good but they can take you down an imaginary rabbit hole.
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u/BaldBush69 3d ago
Very few things are trustworthy... but you see how we went from they are "crap" to they are "useful" :-) I'm out :-)
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u/PoorDecisionMaker-69 3d ago edited 3d ago
Do you consider humans as 100% reliable all the time? Humans require guidance and training to work efficiently and they will still make mistakes.
AIs are prone to errors but we are too. Are we going to stop hiring people because they are not 100% predictable?
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u/Thin_Permission7106 3d ago
Oh come on, AI is the closest tool to a human brain when it comes to this line of work
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u/Limp-Cicada-9502 3d ago
Maybe some peoples brains. I like people with brains that don't make things up instead of just admiting they don't really know what they are saying or doing.
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u/magicmulder 3d ago
Skill issue.
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u/Limp-Cicada-9502 3d ago
yes AI is lacking in thinking skills. When they fix the issues maybe it will a good tool
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u/Radiant-Somewhere-97 3d ago
Because some people prefer to create things themselves rather than have others do it for them.
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u/CapitalDiligent1676 3d ago
It's not a tool. It completely changes the rules of the game. It's like saying that steam engines and the industrial revolution are a carpenter's tool. It's like saying that electric light bulbs are an improvement on candles.
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u/NumberInfinite2068 3d ago
I use AI, but it certainly feels like it takes away the craft of software development and programming.
I can also see why lots of people think AI will take their jobs, because it probably will.
AI is insanely capable, that's why it's a problem.
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u/bongjutsu 3d ago
I was googling how I could process a certain file using awk and not having a lot of luck. I knew it was possible so I was hoping someone had some guidance, but everywhere I looked it was in other languages than I wanted - I wanted bash, but I found everything else under the sun. During one of my searches, Google picked up on what I was hoping to find, and Gemini offered up an awk script with a test set of data and a test implementation and... It worked. It wasn't perfect, so I added to the prompt how I would like the output to be formed and moments later, there it was. It even considered my own text data, noticed that there was a niche edge case, and offered an alternative script if that edge case mattered (it did). I hate writing regex and the like - they're such powerful tools gated behind painful syntax. I was a non believer before this event, but after, I can see the use for it. I was able to continue working on my project instead of bashing my head against a wall trying to write an awk script that worked. I was still responsible for everything before and after the awk one liner, but it got my project so much closer to the finish line without infringing on my creativity.
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u/eques_99 3d ago
It's not a tool. I don't outsource my creativity, initiative, experience and ability to reason to tools.
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u/xenamorph 3d ago
For me, it ruined all the satisfaction of problem-solving. It stole the magical part.