I encourage you to crack open a dependency tree for any project and ask: how many of these do I understand? Then open one and ask: do you really understand whats happening? How much of the code there do you even use?

The experience will feel uncannily similar to AI generated code. So treat slop the same way. Give it a good, well tested API, and file an issue or PR when something breaks.

I don’t know about being more tired than the model, but when I’ve had a particularly productive session, I feel more tired (brain fog) than during a coding session. Probably because I’ve replaced brainless typing with the cognitive load of decision-making and weighing plan approaches.

The solution is to move slower, not faster.

The struggle here for many is expectation. We can certainly be more productive with these tools.

Can we be 10x more productive though? Or is it more like 1.25x? Is it AGI or is it more like an advanced compiler?

Unfortunately the world is betting on 10x when the reality on the ground feels more like 1.25x.

So many efforts out there to alter the usage of the tool to regain control, when it's clear to me that the tool is the problem?

By which I mean, we should -- as software engineers -- be insisting on tools that put us in the driver's seat more.

Instead we're letting the agent drive. (I'm as guilty as this as anybody). But really we're letting Dario, Sam, Boris, etc. drive. And it should be clear from their public pronouncements and emissions that they don't have the best interests of our profession -- or the quality of software engineering generally -- in mind.

Yes, certainly, alter how you use the tools. But we need to fix the tools themselves.

Another option is just not using an LLM at all.

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