Two major, well respected, and very active maintainers in a FOSS project I regularly contribute to are pushing hard for AI contributions and even to replace large parts of existing code base with AI generated code.

Seems, I'll need to find another hobby soon. And at this point I don't mean another piece of software, I mean probably something else than programming and FOSS maintenance.

#sigh #opensource #genai

Yes, contributing to FOSS and this project in particular was probably in a large part escapism.

I enjoyed fixing the bugs, solving the challenging feature-riddles, and learning a lot, away from everyday problems. Crafting with care and pride. A little corner of life, where trying to give my best changed things for the better. For a few, but it did.

If all of this is getting replaced by AI, that entirely devalues anything I could contribute to very near zero.

It was fun while it lasted.

@chainq I'm thinking the easy stuff gets automated and the tricky part still needs competent hackers to figure out. At least, that's my experience so far.

@troed @chainq One recurring pattern I see with LLM contributions is that code-level abstractions don't make sense. The feature works, all tests pass, but a considerable amount of functionality is at the wrong place. Simplest example is a C project where *technically* it doesn't matter in which file you implement a function, but I've seen the same with Java&classes too. This doesn't matter for machines because they just grep for the function name, but makes human contributions extremely taxing, like living in a mad mans house where the soap is in the fridge and you have to climb a ladder to the attic to find the salt.

I think this can be a valid argument against the LLM push.

@chainq Mood, I had the most fun the past few days just working on my bikes.

@troed If I get to be vibe code cleanup specialist, I want to be financially incentivized too like the people pushing for AI, not doing that in my free time.

Just as I don't want to read a book, no one bothered to write, I don't want to fix software, that no one bothered to code.

It's that simple. Time is a non-renewable resource. I want to spend it where it is rewarding and makes a difference. Digging into generated junk that will be regenerated tomorrow is neither.

@buherator @troed "When in doubt, follow the money" - I'm trying to argue with people with thousands of monthly budget to spend on AI coding tools. There's no argument against that it seems, at this point.

@chainq

I mean, my budget is zero :D It's very seldom anything I do (except open source projects for fun) can leave my computer so I run all my AI experiments locally.

@buherator

Oh I agree. I did a presentation just a few days ago at a company where I explained that if they use AI it's going to be quite limited where it will bring benefits, and in most of their product range it will just cause enormous maintenance headaches and security holes.

I'm just trying to argue that the answer isn't 0% vs 100% LLM-development. It's one tool amongst many.

@troed

No that I disagree, but I think OP is (at least in part) about scaring away volunteer contributors where nothing vs. something can make a difference. You probably won't start building a sand castle in the dog park.

@chainq

@chainq do you program for a job? I've been wondering about a serious career change which adds a layer of worry on top. I know that A.I isn't going to stop senior software dev work (which was never 100% about programming) but this idea of craft, care and thought does seem to be going away. I don't know if it's better or worse that it's my job as oppose to hobby. Perhaps it will just become a hobby? Either way, you are not the first person I've heard who has voiced these concerns

@chainq I suppose change is inevitable and sometimes good. This change feels bad. Seems like software engineering and programming was mostly a mess, then A.I. threw petrol on that fire. I do wonder about our Artist and Writer friends who've already been facing this A.I. change for a while now.

@oni I'm torn, because I also saw average people live their lifelong unfulfilled dreams, creating things they couldn't before, thanks to some gen AI tools. In an innocent way, not trying to monetize or anything, just seeing things come to life for the joy of it. And I can pretty much relate to that.

Maybe it's just another tool indeed, that democratizes creation, like YouTube democratized "TV" creation. Or Podcasts democratized "radio".

But it still hits too close to home for me.

@oni Yeah, I'm a software engineer by trade. And I could deal with all this shitshow at work, because well, money talks.

But this was part of my hobby, part of the "craft" I care about, that is now going away. And the number of people who I thought were like-minded also reduced significantly. Of course I can still do whatever I want at home, and tinker with software. But if you're making tools even as a hobby, you want those tools to be used by someone.