this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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[–] jon@lemdro.id 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Good luck debugging AI-generated code...

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 0 points 5 months ago

Really simple. Just ask it to point out the error. Also maybe tell it how the code is wrong. And then hope that the new code didn't introduce new errors in formerly working sections. And that it understood what you meant. In a language that is inherently vague.

[–] Zess@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They think it will be easier than having people write the code from scratch. I don't know shit about coding but I know that's definitely not right.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

AI is quite good at writing small sections of code. Usually because it's more or less just copying something off the internet that it's found, maybe changing a few bits around, but essentially just regurgitating something that's in its data set. I could of course just have done that but it saves time since the AI can find the relevant piece of code to copy and modify more or less instantly.

But it falls apart if you ask it to build entire applications. You can barely even get it to write pong without a lot of tinkering around after the fact which rather defeats the point really.

It also doesn't deal well if the thing you're trying to program for is not very well documented, which would include things like drivers, which presumably is their bread and butter.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 0 points 5 months ago

That might actually be a good test for managers who think coders can be replaced by this. Have them try to make a working version of Pong using AI prompts.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (5 children)

If generative AI hasn't replaced artists, it won't replaced programmers.

Generative AI is much better at art than coding.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

It will never replace artists anyway.

Art isn't just about what it looks, like it's also about an emotional connection. Inherently we think that you cannot have an emotional connection with something created by a computer. Humans will always prefer art created by humans, even if objectively there isn't a lot of difference.

[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 5 months ago

The problem is that not everyone looks for that human-to-human emotional connection in art. For some, it's just a part of a much bigger whole.

For example, if you're an indie game dev with a small budget and no artistic skills, you may not be that scrupulous about getting an AI to generate some sprites or 3D models for you, if the alternative is to commission the art assets with money you don't have.

Similar idea applies to companies building a website. Why pay for a licence to download some stock images or design assets if you can just get a GenAI to pump out hundreds for you that are very convincing (and probably even better) for a couple bucks?

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

Also, it seems to only do digital art.

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[–] SomeGuy69@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

But coding never was the difficult part. It's understanding a concept, identify a problem and solve it with the possible methods. An AI just makes the coding part faster and gives me options to quicker identify a possible solution. Thankfully there's a never ending pile of projects, issues, todos and stackholder wants, that I don't see how we need less programmers. Maybe we need more to deal with AI, as now people can do a lot more in house instead of outsourcing, but as soon as that threshold is reached, companies will again contact large software companies. If people want to put AI into everything, you need people feeding the AI with company specific data and instruct people to use this AI.

All I see is middle management getting replaced, because instead of a boring meeting, I could just ask an AI.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's been said before but the whiter your collar the more likely you are to be replaced by AI simply because the grunts tend to do more varied less pleibeon things.

Middle managers tend to write a lot of documents and emails which is something AI excels at. The programmers meanwhile have to come up with creative solutions to problems, and AI is less good at being creative, it basically just copy pastes known solutions from the web.

[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 5 months ago

Realises devs have always joked about their jobs just being about copy-pasting solutions from StackOverflow 80% of the time

Oh God...

[–] curry@programming.dev 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I dread meetings and I can't wait for AIs to replace those managers. Or perhaps we'll have even more meetings because the management wants to know why we're so late despite the AI happily churning out meaningless codes that look so awesome like all that CSI VB GUI crap.

[–] SomeGuy69@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

That's when you write an AI auto reply cron. Let the snake eat its tail. Hehe

[–] Zacryon@feddit.org 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

While I highly doubt that becoming true for at least a decade, we can already replace CEOs by AI, you know? (:

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/ai-ceo-artificial-intelligence-b2302091.html

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Most middle managers could be replaced by a simple script already.

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

while(True): staffNumbers-=1 staffWorkload*=1.1 staffWages*=0.95 executiveWages*=1.2

[–] riodoro1@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

Todays news: Rich assholes in suits are idiots and don’t know how their own companies are working. Make sure to share what they’re saying.

[–] Schneemensch@programming.dev 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)

While I do understand all of the scepticism in this thread, I have to say that I am personally amazed by GitHub Copilot.

I am just ramping up in a new company working on web development with Angular and Spring Boot. Even though I have 0 experience with this and have a background in python and C++, I got productive extremely quickly thanks to Copilot. Of course it does not work without flaws and you still need programming knowledge to wirte proper prompts and fix smaller issues in the resulting code. But without it I would be much further behind. It was even able to fix some issues in the html just based on a description of the issue I am observing in the webpage.

I do not think it will replace all programmers, but I do think it will replace some low level programmers who did repetitive tasks as the good programmers are extremely accelerated by only having to type subsets of what was needed before.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

The thing about co-pilot is if you don't do anything with it, it just sits there.

You can't give it a prompt, you actually have to code stuff. It is a more advanced version of autocomplete. Now admittedly, it can write very large chunks of boilerplate code, which is extremely helpful, but it can't code the entire app, and it can't work with natural language prompts, at all.

Technically that makes chatGPT, (It really needs a better name) a more capable coder than copilot.

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[–] nightlily@leminal.space 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If we replace all the low level coders with this fancy, expensive, environmentally destructive autocomplete - where are all the high level coders going to come from? Just spring from clone vats?

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[–] spacecadet@lemm.ee 0 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Everybody talks about AI killing programming jobs, but any developer who has had to use it knows it can do anything complex in programming. What it’s really going to replace is program managers, customer reps, makes most of HR obsolete, finance analysts, legal teams, and middle management. This people have very structured, rule based day to days. Getting an AI to write a very customized queuing system in Rust to suit your very specific business needs is nearly impossible. Getting AI to summarize Jira boards, analyze candidates experience, highlight key points of meetings (and obsolete most of them altogether), and gather data on outstanding patents is more in its wheelhouse.

I am starting to see a major uptick in recruiters reaching out to me because companies are starting to realize it was a mistake to stop hiring Software Engineers in the hopes that AI would replace them, but now my skills are going to come at a premium just like everyone else in Software Engineering with skills beyond “put a react app together”

[–] underthesign@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Trouble is, you're basing all that on now, not a year from now, or 6 months from now. It's too easy to look at it's weaknesses today and extrapolate. I think people need to get real about coding and AI. Coding is language and rules. Machines can learn that enormously faster and more accurately than humans. The ones who survive will be those who can wield it as a tool for creativity. But if you think it won't be capable of all the things it's currently weak at you're just kidding yourself unfortunately. It'll be like anything else - a tool for an operator. Middlemen will be wiped out of the process, of course, but those with money remain those without time or expertise, and there will always be a place for people willing to step in at that point. But they won't be coding. They'll be designing and solving problems.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

It's tons easier to repkace CEOs, HR, managers and so on than coders. Coders needs to be creative, an HR or manager not so much. Are they leaving three months from now you think?

I'll start worrying when they are all gone.

[–] spacecadet@lemm.ee 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

We are 18 months into AI replacing me in 6 months. I mean… the CEO of OpenAI as well as many researchers have already said LLMs have mostly reached their limit. They are “generalizers” and if you ask them to do anything new they hallucinate quite frequently. Trying to get AI to replace developers when it hasn’t even replaced other menial office jobs is like saying “we taught AI to drive, it will replace all F1 drivers in 6 months”.

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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's based on the last few years of messaging. They've consistently said AI will do X, Y, and Z, and it ends up doing each of those so poorly that you need pretty much the same staff to babysit the AI. I think it's actually a net-negative in terms of productivity for technical work because you end up having to go over the output extremely carefully to make sure its correct, whereas you'd have some level of trust with a human employee.

AI certainly has a place in a technical workflow, but it's nowhere close to replacing human workers, at least not right now. It'll keep eating at the fringes for the next 5 years minimum, if not indefinitely, and I think the net result will be making human workers more productive, not replacing human workers. And the more productive we are per person, the more valuable that person is, and the more work gets generated.

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[–] Kekzkrieger@feddit.org 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

CEOs without a clue how things work think they know how things work.

I swear if we had no CEOs from today on the only impact would be that we wouldve less gibberish being spoken

[–] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

If AI could replace anyone... it's those dingbats. I mean, what would you say, in this given example, the CEO does... exactly? Make up random bullshit? AI does that. Write a speech? AI does that. I love how these overpaid people think they can replace the talent but they... they are absolutely required and couldn't possibly be replaced! Talent and AI can't buy and enjoy the extra big yacht, or private jets, or over priced cars, or a giant over sized mansion... no you need people for that.

[–] ulkesh@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago

Nonsense. But then CEOs rarely know what the hell they’re talking about.

[–] qarbone@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (16 children)

If, 24 months from now, most people aren't coding, it'll be because people like him cut jobs to make a quicker buck. Or nickel.

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[–] yournamehere@lemm.ee 0 points 5 months ago (2 children)
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[–] slimarev92@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago (8 children)

If that's true, how come there isn't a single serious project written exclusively or mostly be an LLM? There isn't a single library or remotely original application made with Claude or Gemini. Not one.

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