Earlier this week, I saw this post on LinkedIn.
I became.. “inspired”, let’s say. The LLM industry and the phenomenon surrounding it is complicated. There are a swath of technical and cultural concepts that could be unpacked; I may or may not try to get around to writing other posts about them, because though they warrant their own articles, there are already many writers who have addressed them better than I could (read some Zitron).
The particular element I would like to address is this: the spirit (or lack thereof) of generative AI hype is insufferable. In the post I referenced above, the original content is indeed ridiculous, and the gentleman’s response is commendable. The greatest accomplishment of the “advent of AI” is that humanity’s capacity to be dumb is maximized. (Who’s surprised? It’s in the name, after all.)
Artificial intelligence hype is the latest tech bro grift ala NFTs and crypto, and arguably the most insulting yet. Their slogan is essentially “Don’t have any intelligence? We’ll sell you some! Who really cares about having skills or thoughts? Don’t be a sucker - buy my product instead!” What a repulsive thing to say to people.
These snake oil salesmen actually believe (or, at minimum, are desperate for the public to believe):
- people who worked hard to earn skills are a problem,
- everyone else can’t live without their $20/month (for now) Dunning-Kruger pill.
It’s a distasteful attitute, at best. At worst, it’s the Tyrell Corporation built on sand. Oracle, anyone? (Oracle fired 30,000 people “because AI”, then filed thousands of h1b visas and awarded $26 million in stock grants to a member of the C-Suite the same week.)
The marketing copy being used to perpetuate and further inflate the AI bubble is asinine, unbelievably rude, and often completely untrue. I speak for the 20 million developers who came before me, and those aspiring, when I say I am sick of hearing and reading it. It’s garbage. Full stop.
All media claiming that “software engineers are done” or that “software engineers are gatekeepers” should have a legally mandated disclaimer: “This post brought to you by a dude selling an LLM-based product.”
It’s an ad, it’s crass, and it’s false.
First of all…
Physicians aren’t “gatekeeping” because they went to medical school.
Songwriters aren’t “gatekeeping” because they put in 10,000+ hours developing their taste and craft. (And no, Mikey, pretty much the only reason people become songwriters and musicians is because they like it.)
Software developers aren’t “gatekeeping” because they spent years forgoing time with their families to read dense technical books, build projects, practice data structures and algorithms, and slog through technical interviews.
What the loud-mouthed aspiring profiteers in the AI space are calling “gatekeeping” in this context is simply a basic standard for an objectively difficult skill wherein the outcome of the work has real consequences. If a surgeon makes a mistake, it affects someone’s life in a major way. The same thing goes for a programmer that borks a sensitive application.
Moreover, the notion that AI will replace software engineers is flat-out erroneous. We’re going on four consecutive years of developers being 6 months from extinction. If that’s true, why are LLM companies still hiring software engineers at all, let alone for some of the most lucrative salaries in the entire field? Why are other companies laying people off, then immediately backfilling the positions with h1b’s? It provokes some thought.
The AI industry is guilty of many sins, some more egregious than others. Convincing people en masse they don’t need to know what they’re doing (worse yet, that having to know what one is doing has always been the real problem) in order to prop up a company and make a dollar is downright heinous.
”Satan’s greatest trick…”
Here’s a novel idea: Be a human being and learn an actual skill (grifting doesn’t count). One might just prevent their company from being sued. Or don’t - just keep outsourcing all the critical thinking to companies that use derisive, often outright deceptive advertising and steal intellectual property for their own profit (and have the nerve to cry foul when their own proprietary work is leaked) and skip the legitimate required work to earn the skills we have.
Either way, it’s time to give it a rest. It’s embarrassing to be so unfathomably wrong, so aggressively, so publicly, so constantly. Perhaps one day they will have the humility and sense to realize how foolish all of this is. Unfortunately (because I am a sane person), my money’s on the horde of flightless birds continuing to stampede over the cliff, while still trying to convince you that it’s a good idea to jump too.
It’s absurdity all the way down.
Meanwhile…
Physicians, please continue to go to medical school. This is self explanatory.
Songwriters, musicians, designers, and other artists, please continue to love and respect the craft of making art. Art imitates life. LLMs have no life, and the stolen intellectual property they chew up and regurgitate has no soul. Art without soul has no point. In that regard, these companies are stealing from creators and consumers alike.
Software developers, please continue to invest real sweat into sharpening the tool of your trade: your mind.
Don’t let your skills atrophy. If everyone devolves into relying on agents and chatbots, we’ll be right where they want us when tokens are no longer subsidized and we have to pay what they actually cost. It’s only a matter of time before the VCs want to see a return on their investment and everyone finds out the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.
When that day comes, and what a glorious day that will be, the AI hype bros will retreat and pivot to their next hollow, slimy venture, and we won’t have to hear about this anymore.
If justice truly shines upon us, some of them will be fined or imprisoned for committing the largest intellectual property theft in history. (Anyone remember what happened to the guy who pirated JSTOR? The theft (it’s theft) of “training data” is orders of magnitude worse than that, and yet these companies are lauded for their innovation.)
If the inferno freezes over, perhaps some of them might even apologize to the people they’ve insulted with their brash advertising (not holding my breath for this one).
Then we, who did not outsource our intelligence or skills, will gaze into the abyss a final time and declare, “SKILL ISSUE!”
Addendum
I have written up a part 2 for this article. Read it here: “Differentiating AI Boosters From Optimists (On AI Hype pt. 2)”
Read part 3 here: “AI Token Price Hikes Are Here, Right on Schedule (On AI Hype, pt. 3)”