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> McKinsey stated AI could “automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today” across all occupations, not specifically software de

by Terr_ 1y ago

> McKinsey stated AI could “automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today” across all occupations, not specifically software development. I would wager a large portion of that would be both generating and then triaging a certain level of institutional "bullshit communications". For example, the employee must give daily status updates, and they have a three-item list for the day. They use an LLM to pad out their three-item bullet list into prose that sounds smart and active and impressive. Then their manager says "TLDR" and uses an LLM to "summarize" it back into almost the original three-item bullet list. Each employee believes they've "saved time" using the tool, but it's a kind of broken-window fallacy [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window

deleted 1y ago
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_wire_ 1y ago
Without a definition of thought as work, the entire argument of AI productivity is noise. The value of AI to work is utterly unquantifiable. But command of human attention is another matter: it can be quantified and it is command of attention that defines the value of FAANG+ The AI boosters hype it in such terms, both intra-model and extra-model: we track the attention and sell seats in the musical chairs of "investment", leaving it to users to explain the productivity gains to themselves. It's a circus.
- BlackjackCF 1y ago
  I always find the X% of developers use AI tools for their work suspect because I know many people who are being pressured by their company to adopt AI tools for their day to day workflows.
  - Our_Benefactors 1y ago
    As they should be. It’s a necessary tool to learn. If your entire dev team circa 2010 was writing code in notepad++ and sharing code versions in a zip file, you would push them to use an IDE and source control. It’s the same concept.
    - Terr_ 1y ago
      That's true insofar as there is friction to adoption. But whether $THING should be adopted and whether it does increase long-term productivity is nowhere near as clear-cut.
      - Our_Benefactors 1y ago
        Have you used it? It should be, and does.
        bandrami 1y ago
        Did you read the article? It cites the METR study[1] which showed that while people using AI tools to program report feeling like they are producing more, they are in fact producing about 20% less than without the tools. Ironically you could get the same effect and save compute fees by simply having programmers stay home one day a week. [1] https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/ https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-o...
        Our_Benefactors 1y ago
        Did you read the article? > We do not provide evidence that: AI systems do not currently speed up many or most software developers
        bandrami 1y ago
        Correct, it only shows that AI slows down experienced developers, which is who the thread is about.
        CamperBob2 1y ago
        That study is straight out of the school that measures productivity in kLOC. Completely worthless except as fuel for Internet arguments and poorly-informed policymaking.
  - o11c 1y ago
    Yeah that's an outright fraudulent claim. But most fraud is legal, and most illegal fraud never sees legal action taken against it.
csomar 1y ago
LLM biggest productivity boost might uncovering that most of the work we do is B.S. anyway and mostly made up of pushing papers around.
- UtopiaPunk 1y ago
  Haha, in my workplace, I feel it's making me come up with BS. I do use it occasionally in my job, and it can be helpful. But there's a very strong push from my C-suite to make everyone in the company use more AI. Doesn't really matter how, we're just supposed to be rubbing AI on stuff. So a few times a day I boop our AI tools and find excuses to mention to my boss that I did an AI thing.
taude 1y ago
I'm telling people that if AI can make the process easy or go away, maybe it's time to rethink we need the process.

by Terr_ 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

_wire_ 1y ago

Without a definition of thought as work, the entire argument of AI productivity is noise. The value of AI to work is utterly unquantifiable. But command of human attention is another matter: it can be quantified and it is command of attention that defines the value of FAANG+ The AI boosters hype it in such terms, both intra-model and extra-model: we track the attention and sell seats in the musical chairs of "investment", leaving it to users to explain the productivity gains to themselves. It's a circus.

BlackjackCF 1y ago
I always find the X% of developers use AI tools for their work suspect because I know many people who are being pressured by their company to adopt AI tools for their day to day workflows.
- Our_Benefactors 1y ago
  As they should be. It’s a necessary tool to learn. If your entire dev team circa 2010 was writing code in notepad++ and sharing code versions in a zip file, you would push them to use an IDE and source control. It’s the same concept.
  - Terr_ 1y ago
    That's true insofar as there is friction to adoption. But whether $THING should be adopted and whether it does increase long-term productivity is nowhere near as clear-cut.
    - Our_Benefactors 1y ago
      Have you used it? It should be, and does.
      - bandrami 1y ago
        Did you read the article? It cites the METR study[1] which showed that while people using AI tools to program report feeling like they are producing more, they are in fact producing about 20% less than without the tools. Ironically you could get the same effect and save compute fees by simply having programmers stay home one day a week. [1] https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/ https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-o...
        Our_Benefactors 1y ago
        Did you read the article? > We do not provide evidence that: AI systems do not currently speed up many or most software developers
        bandrami 1y ago
        Correct, it only shows that AI slows down experienced developers, which is who the thread is about.
        CamperBob2 1y ago
        That study is straight out of the school that measures productivity in kLOC. Completely worthless except as fuel for Internet arguments and poorly-informed policymaking.
- o11c 1y ago
  Yeah that's an outright fraudulent claim. But most fraud is legal, and most illegal fraud never sees legal action taken against it.

csomar 1y ago

LLM biggest productivity boost might uncovering that most of the work we do is B.S. anyway and mostly made up of pushing papers around.

UtopiaPunk 1y ago
Haha, in my workplace, I feel it's making me come up with BS. I do use it occasionally in my job, and it can be helpful. But there's a very strong push from my C-suite to make everyone in the company use more AI. Doesn't really matter how, we're just supposed to be rubbing AI on stuff. So a few times a day I boop our AI tools and find excuses to mention to my boss that I did an AI thing.

taude 1y ago

I'm telling people that if AI can make the process easy or go away, maybe it's time to rethink we need the process.