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Gabe Newell thinks AI tools will result in a 'funny situation' where people who don't know how to program become 'more effective developers of value' than those who've been at it for a decade

markus_zhang · 1d ago

I still don't get why so many developers are making AI tools, improving AI and integrating AI. Great job removing your fellow developers and yourselves from the working force in the future, then.

Yeah I know you are going to laugh at this old silly me who are not 100% with advancements of human society. Go ahead and have fun while you can.

But let me say this: I get why GN thinks like this. I get why corporation leaders claim that AI could replace developers, whether it is true or not. I get why John Carmack and other similar tier programmers are trying to make GenAI. But if you are one if the rest, a.k.a. mediocre developers, good luck promoting and making AI tools.

breve · 1d ago

> I get why corporation leaders claim that AI could replace developers, whether it is true or not

Why?

markus_zhang · 1d ago

Maybe they want to follow the trend and cut off some costs along the way? Or maybe they geniunely believed that AI can increase productivity by X% so they can hire X% less?

techpineapple · 1d ago

“I still don't get why so many developers are making AI tools, improving AI and integrating AI.”

Money. Capitalism is designed to make people put making money over adhering to a value system.

And looking at how well these companies pay, I don’t think I’d be the one to make an exception.

techpineapple · 1d ago

If I were to interpret what Gabe is saying here, it would probably be something like:

Developers who start out learning to operate at the new higher level abstraction will be operating closer to the user value than those ingrained in the lower level of abstraction, and this is probably inherently true. If you’re a sysadmin insisting on hand editing config files, you may know a lot more about Linux, but a devops engineer with sensible will run circles around you.

MontgomeryPy · 1d ago

Yes I think so. People who have <other skill> can now more easily add basic coding to their skillset using AI tools. Perhaps AI gives the developer other skills too but maybe less of a force multiplier given their role.

techpineapple · 1d ago

Yeah and similar tot he devops example, the devops engineer who learns Linux deeply will be much more valuable, but on the flip side the old school sysadmin who refuses to learn IaC is likely to slowly deprecate themselves, but they could learn and be fine.

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Gabe Newell thinks AI tools will result in a 'funny situation'

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