AI is neither useless nor flawless. To build something great with its help, you have to accept it as the most prolific idiot you’ve ever worked with.

AI is neither useless nor flawless. To build something great with its help, you have to accept it as the most prolific idiot you’ve ever worked with.

God give me the confidence of an AI chatbot that has just delivered its 20th consecutive “this time we finally got it!” declaration.

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For years and years and years, I emphasized “communication skills” on my resume as an advantage for working well with others. Now it has become the most important skill for working well with AI.

Muhammad AI. #RuinALegendWithAI

On that note, I can see how some people who are not particularly good at communication would fine AI benefits underwhelming. The ability to be direct, precise, and adaptive with your text is key to getting a good result from any AI. Sometimes it’s like a bad photographer saying “this camera sucks!”

Because of AI help, I’m getting about, if I had to guess, 4x done in the same amount of time I used to spend, leaving even more time to make quippy comments here.

I sense that some are confused because I express intense enthusiasm for AI while also mocking it at every chance. This is how I roll. I worked for Apple for several years, simultaneously believing it made the best human-facing platforms, while lambasting them at every turn for how bad they are.

IMO if you can’t find fault in what is considered status quo perfection, you shouldn’t be working in the field.

The most valuable skill in software is making an LLM do what your employer wishes it would.

I ran in to an acquaintance at my favorite wine store, whom I’d never seen there before. It turns out he’s been shopping there for 30 years, and knows all the same people I do. I’ve “only” been shopping there for 20 years. I know it’s killing you, the place is The Wine and Cheese Cask in Somerville.

People of the Northeast United States: if you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to live in Northern California, it feels like this. 365 days a year.

Claude, sudo make me a sandwich.

In the space of a single day, AI impresses me with its staggering ability to achieve implausible success, and then frustrates me by seeming unable to balance the variables of a simple challenge. Stealing from the U.S. military, I’m dubbing this trait: “The impossible? It can do right away. The practical?...

“I can call you Betty, and Betty when you call me you can call me AI…” #RuinAClassicWithAI

I have never made as much money as an indie developer as I did, or would, as a full-time employee. But do you know what never gets old? Seeing a “you just made $39.95” notification when you’re not even working.

“Arbitrage” is a financial term which basically amounts to taking advantage of one market not valuing a product the same as another market. I think we are in an extreme arbitrage situation with AI-generated code and application consumers. They don’t know the apps can be made so cheaply now.

We will know that AI has really succeeded when every braindead-obvious bug in every piece of software disappears.

Good developers feel the tension between what AI can and can’t do. They feel it every day, as they struggle with the shortcomings of our new robot overlords. Having the sensitivity to recognize that tension, while having the capabilities to resolve it, is what they will continue to be paid $$$ for.