Comment by simonw
6 days ago
This is really clear and well argued. I particularly enjoyed this line:
> If you don't understand the code, your only recourse is to ask AI to fix it for you, which is like paying off credit card debt with another credit card.
This is a super apt analogy. Every time I decided to let LLMs “vibe-fix” non-obvious things for the sake of experiment, it spiraled into an unspeakable fubar territory, which needed to be reverted - a very similar situation to this financial collapse.
Invariably, after using the brain, the real fix was usually quite simple - but, also invariably - was hidden behind 2-3 levels of indirection in reasoning.
On the other hand, I had rather pleasant results when “pair-debugging”, my demanding to explain why or just correcting it in the places when it was about to go astray certainly had effect - in return I got some really nice spotting of “obvious” but small things I might have missed otherwise.
That said, definition of “going astray” varies - from innocently jumping into what looked like unsupported conclusions to blatantly telling me something was equal to true right after ingesting the log with the printout showing the opposite.
I'm now following your advice and just telling LLMs, "Do better." Although I have to admit, the other day I lost it and said, "Fix it goddammit or I'll delete you!"
LLMs really know how to bring out the worst in intelligent, hard-working, respectable developers. I can't even imagine what PMs are saying to them, but I'd happily pay another $30 a month just to read those messages :)
Thanks Simon!!