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Josh Glover's avatar

I don’t really disagree with any of the individual points you made, Eric, but I think yielding to inevitability is dangerous. I definitely agree that it’s inevitable that the forces of capitalism will push this stuff, for the reasons that you mention but also because it is a powerful tool for finally putting software engineers in our rightful place as they see it: as replaceable semi-skilled labourers. What’s going on here is an attempt to Uberise all knowledge work, to make us precarious (or believe we’re precarious) enough to accept worse and worse working conditions, ideally not as employees but as contractors.

We can’t accept this as inevitable. We must resist.

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Sean Corfield's avatar

When I've heard folks pushing back on AI and/or refusing to even try it, I've used basically this same argument that capitalism makes widespread AI usage inevitable -- and you really do need to learn to use this new tool in order to stay competitive, or to at least understand how it will affect your job and/or your life.

When I run across software developers who refuse to try a new type of tool or service... I am always a bit shocked: our industry is built on learning new stuff all the time, after all.

I was very much a skeptic when ChatGPT first appeared but once Microsoft announced they would integrate AI into their search engine (Bing) and later into the O/S as a whole (Copilot), I started to learn how to use it since it was inevitable for my life. And, yes, now I find Copilot adds to my productivity in several areas.

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