Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple On the bright side, there are "some" benefits that I've seen in my experiments. The biggest is "planning"
We get requests from clients for modifications that often make no sense and are simply a disaster..... yet, we often just get to it and start framing it out so we can really get an idea of what needs to be done.
with this AI stuff, you can write up the entire process - the business logic - and then include the steps to getting it done and really get it planned out. Then you can have something like Claude CLI dig through it and actually write up a plan - not the code. And THEN, you can break it into manageable pieces, push them into individual branches and THEN start work.
at that point, I'd say 70% of the front-end UI can be done with AI, and then you do the rest. I mean, it is no different than the scaffolding that you get with AngularCLI or VisualStudio, etc...
The real problem is laziness. It's too easy to just make it work and push your PR without even looking at "how" it works.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple So far I've only seen AI vomit from junior devs... Which got better over time, mostly because they learnt it's easier to review and fix it themselves before sending me a MR for review to which I reply, that they should fix the obvious stuff first and then get 30 comments from me in the following iterations anyways...
Most seniors don't really use AI... Some even forget they have an AI subscription...
I'm one of the seniors that use it more often. But I'm using it more like a glorified search engine, getting inspiration for problem solutions (good way to find methods in libraries that I might have missed... if they exist and are not hallucinations), sometimes to get clues on cryptic compiler errors.
I don't usually accept generated code/changes but tend to do it myself after I understand the suggested solution. In my experience it's a lot faster than cleaning up up the generated code. -
I think AI is incredibly weak at actually understanding problems with any moderate degree of complexity.
People forget it's a language model that is just very advanced at predicting what would be a likely, or seemingly sensible answer to a prompt. It's kinda inherent to it's design, they try to overcome it by having it write it's own prompt ("thinking mode") but even then it still just doesn't grasp the full idea
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@anne_twain @halfy In all honesty I hope to be out of that place before that happens
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
given the reactions I have seen over the last year, I suspect there is more going on here.
senior folks got there by nominally their own efforts and time, also nepitism. have seen a lot of that in recent years at various employers.
lots of devs to not want to people much.
many do not want to have to deal with other devs, mainly juniors.
using AI to replace those other people means less people.
I see this as an extension of the 10X, must be a rock star nonsense from management.
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@kitcat @Purple Just kind of true of everyone using AI really- all those 'artists' who want to 'have made' art but don't want to draw are the same.
I can understand the desire to have a finished product, and I can also understand the fact that people have to do something they don't enjoy for a wage, it's just so disappointing that people's answer seems to be, well, this.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple You're not going crazy, no. I worry that LLMs are only capable of emitting *memes* and that some of those memes negatively impact critical thinking by terminating or flattening lines of inquiry. Chronic exposure seems to be required, at least; it's not a one-shot or acute effect. I left more words and links here: https://lobste.rs/s/jucg4w/i_don_t_care_how_well_your_ai_works#c_gkbrmj
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@Purple
You are absolutely right.Lots of people are blindly trusting AI tools and completely bypass their critical thinking braincells.
I am glad to be the only engineer in my team and thus do not have to deal with people like that. Even though i have access to a few AI tools, i will never have them make engineering decisions for me.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple Have you tried _hiring_ lately? It's the wild west of mediocrity out there.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple Yeah, I've seen it happen but only once or twice. I think it happens when the engineers runs out of ideas on how to improve/maintain/whatever the solution they're working so they turn to AI for "suggestions".
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple Yes. I like to think of this as a positive factor for my job security. Every other outlook on this is too grim to think about.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple big tech companies are pushing the AI narrative so that little tech companies use AI and cripple their own development.
Humans are the only species that not only kill their food, but spend time hunting and killing the other predators that hunt their food.
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@swift I sometimes end up talking to them about it, and they seem to be aware AI is sometimes wrong... But yet they keep using it for literally everything.
It's almost like an addict who knows the addiction might be hurting them, but can't stop using.
I can see the damage it's doing to the long term maintainability of our environment and platform too
@Purple @swift you've actually nailed it
it looks like an addiction because prompting is like a slot machine: each prompt is another pull on the slot machine hoping for a good result, and maybe, just maybe, if they prompt just one more time, they'll get a good result 
<insert rant about needing human psych as a mandatory class during education here>
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@Purple Have you tried _hiring_ lately? It's the wild west of mediocrity out there.
@spiqueras @Purple
People need to start hiring the old fashioned way and demand no AI use on the job or in the resume & application.
It should be a contractual fireable offence.
It might attract engineers who get the issues and prefer to use their brains, and not work in a place they are forced to use it.It’s an opportunity for the really skilled engineers who are anti AI.
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@Purple On the bright side, there are "some" benefits that I've seen in my experiments. The biggest is "planning"
We get requests from clients for modifications that often make no sense and are simply a disaster..... yet, we often just get to it and start framing it out so we can really get an idea of what needs to be done.
with this AI stuff, you can write up the entire process - the business logic - and then include the steps to getting it done and really get it planned out. Then you can have something like Claude CLI dig through it and actually write up a plan - not the code. And THEN, you can break it into manageable pieces, push them into individual branches and THEN start work.
at that point, I'd say 70% of the front-end UI can be done with AI, and then you do the rest. I mean, it is no different than the scaffolding that you get with AngularCLI or VisualStudio, etc...
The real problem is laziness. It's too easy to just make it work and push your PR without even looking at "how" it works.
You’re a coder by trade, not a business planner?
This looks worryingly like “the LLM summary of the field I _don’t_ specialize in looks fine to me”.
If your customers who are business planners accept it, okay, though… why aren’t _they_ the ones worrying about being replaced?
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@clew @Purple I both code and one the business. they *should* be worried, but they don't understand how an LLM works now how much better at a lot of things it is than them and finding logical gaps.
Creative programming.... Finding a better way to accomplish a goal... Finding a more economical way to get a short budget project done? So far, AI is not going to replace experience and intelligence of a good programmer with business experience. On the other hand, a lot of project managers can be ditched.
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@Purple so yeah, you are not alone.
I used to think my (now previous) employer mostly had a staff that actually somewhat cared about the craft. I am not so sure anymore.
On the contrary, I more and more get questioned on or have to justify my decision to avoid these tools wherever I can (sure, being able to do so is a privilege, depending on current pressure at wherever one works to feed and house themselves).I get that the _craft_ changes over time — I had colleagues who grew up on assembler and their C was sweet — but I’m pretty bewildered by how bad stuff is and why do the _customers_ accept it? The customers, who give companies the _money_?
Then I deal with a hilarious-not string of systemic errors from, oh, my cable company ‘s billing system. The only cable provider I have, and they’re trying to persuade regulators to let them increase their monopoly.
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@clew @Purple I both code and one the business. they *should* be worried, but they don't understand how an LLM works now how much better at a lot of things it is than them and finding logical gaps.
Creative programming.... Finding a better way to accomplish a goal... Finding a more economical way to get a short budget project done? So far, AI is not going to replace experience and intelligence of a good programmer with business experience. On the other hand, a lot of project managers can be ditched.
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Is anyone else experience this thing where your fellow senior engineers seem to be lobotomised by AI?
I've had 4 different senior engineers in the last week come up with absolutely insane changes or code, that they were instructed to do by AI. Things that if you used your brain for a few minutes you should realise just don't work.
They also rarely can explain why they make these changes or what the code actually does.
I feel like I'm absolutely going insane, and it also makes me not able to trust anyones answers or analysis' because I /know/ there is a high chance they should asked AI and wrote it off as their own.
I think the effect AI has had on our industry's knowledge is really significant, and it's honestly very scary.
@Purple I usually try and avoid blaming tools here ... If someone was prone to copy pasting a bunch of code they didn't understand before ... Nothing has really changed.
Senior devs should take responsibility for the shit they write and then want maintained long term
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