Over the past few years, the evolution of AI-driven tools like GitHub’s Copilot and other large language models (LLMs) has promised to revolutionise programming. By leveraging deep learning, these tools can generate code, suggest solutions, and even troubleshoot issues in real-time, saving developers hours of work. While these tools have obvious benefits in terms of productivity, there’s a growing concern that they may also have unintended consequences on the quality and skillset of programmers.
As someone who thinks we are in an AI bubble about to burst, this article has “old man angry at the kids using new technology” vibes.
I agree. Those who make bold claims like “AI is making programmers worse” neither has any first-hand experience with AI tools nor has any contact with how programmers are using them in their day-to-day business.
Let’s think about this for a second: one feature of GitHub Copilot is the
/explaincommand, which is used to put together a synthetic description of what a codebase does. Please someone tell me how a programmer gets worse at their job by having a tool that helps him understand any codebase anywhere.I honestly wonder if they’re not trying to imply by virtue of digging up the info yourself, you’re not better for it… some real boomer shit