Everything in the tech news is about AI. It’s almost the only topic. That and the fact that the big companies are firing people to save money for more AI investment.
If you feel a bit panicky about the future, you are not alone. We used to believe that white-collar jobs are more stable than blue-collar jobs. But nobody is planning to replace the plumber with AI yet. (Based on my last invoice from a plumber, it’s a good option for a new career!)
There’s plenty of hype, and panic, and fear about the ethical issues (which are very real). But sometimes we need to take a step back from the noise. There are no working crystal balls. Nobody can predict the future. And not everyone believes AI will take over the world.
This wasn’t my planned topic. But a few AI-related discussions came across my desk this week and I decided to share them.
Stop calling me
Jo Ann complained this week that she received lots of AI-automated sales calls. Is there anybody who doesn’t try to block these numbers?
Do you know of any AI bot that has successfully sold anything to anyone this way? Just curious.
It changed its mind
Lewis presented the Design Patterns course this week. One of his delegates questioned a statement that he made, on the basis that she had read different information on the internet. Lewis asked for the link. It was an AI-generated response. When Lewis reran the identical prompt, he got a completely different answer.
This is the reality of predictive large language models. No matter how good it sounds, there is no actual intelligent thought behind it. AI hallucinations are real.
Buy now, pay later (with interest)
A blog post generated lots of interest of LinkedIn. I’ve extracted some of it:
"We’re at this weird inflection point in software development. Every junior dev I talk to has Copilot or Claude or GPT running 24/7. They’re shipping code faster than ever. But when I dig deeper into their understanding of what they’re shipping? That’s where things get concerning.
Sure, the code works, but ask why it works that way instead of another way? Crickets. Ask about edge cases? Blank stares.
The foundational knowledge that used to come from struggling through problems is just… missing.
We’re trading deep understanding for quick fixes, and while it feels great in the moment, we’re going to pay for this later.
… AI gives you answers, but the knowledge you gain is shallow.
… Think about every great developer you know. Did they get that good by copying solutions? No—they got there by understanding systems deeply and understanding other developers’ thought processes. That’s exactly what we’re losing."
And this will lead to even greater technical debt.
Big names, big noise, big bubble?
Another article titled "The Generative AI Con" was also food for thought. It’s cynical and contains some bad language (please don’t read it if that offends you).
The writer points out that all the hype about AI is coming from companies who have invested a lot of money in it. But there is no evidence that generative AI is a sustainable or real industry at the trillion-dollar scale that many claim.
That struck me as true. Many of the articles I have read are about predictions. But there’s much less information about how AI has made companies money.
The writer challenges many of the claims that are being made. He believes that generative AI is a "financial, ecological and social time bomb", that will fundamentally damage the relationship between the tech industry and society.
He admits that his article is a rant, but it is not a rant without any basis.
We can’t ignore AI . But we can and should treat it with caution. What do you think? Please share your views.