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AI is extremely useful, we just haven’t zeroed in on your specific use cases yet. Robotics has been transformed by it, IT and tech has been transformed by it. F

AI is extremely useful, we just haven’t zeroed in on your specific use cases yet. Robotics has been transformed by it, IT and tech has been transformed by it. Finance and Legal have been transformed by it. To say it’s 95% useless is a personal bias. To me it’s 65% useful. As it can run in the background doing “chores” while I sleep.

ndbe 3mo ago
[dead]
moron4hire 3mo ago
Apparently "being transformed" has "been transformed" because most things look a hell of a lot like the same thing these days.
jappgar 3mo ago
People's workday has been transformed by it. But I fail to see actual transformation beyond "more crap, faster." AI hasn't done anything we couldn't already do. It's just doing it faster and with more mistakes.
- jimbokun 3mo ago
  That just isn’t true. AI is capable of performing a lot of grunt work reliably. Still must be reviewed. But a big productivity gain over doing everything yourself.
  - glimshe 3mo ago
    While I agree with you in principle, I think the parent has a point here: where's the amazing product that couldn't have been done without AI? By now we should have seen some major new invention/company, incredibly fast revolutionary feature rollouts etc but I'm just seeing more of the same.
    - reactordev 3mo ago
      not everything needs a unicorn product to validate it's existence. even just moving the field forward is sometimes enough to clear the air. what is clear is that we aren't going back.
    - handoflixue 3mo ago
      Curious, what revolutionary products would you cite, that existed within 4 years of the underlying technology? I feel like within that time frame, you're looking at "AOL chatrooms" for the internet, and I'm not even sure what the killer app was for smart phones - GPS was around before that. Computers do admittedly claim the Apollo program pretty early in, so I'll definitely concede that one - just curious if other revolutions have really lived up to that bar. As someone who grew up on modems, I struggle to view the modern world as really having a "killer app" that really couldn't have been done in the 90s
      - glimshe 3mo ago
        Visicalc was released 2 years after the Apple II was released. Visicalc changed the world for the better faster than AI has up to this point.
        reactordev 3mo ago
        Anthropic released Claude in March 2023. Claude Code was released in February 2025. I'd say Claude Code had about as much impact as Visicalc.
        glimshe 3mo ago
        But Claude Code is the apple II in my analogy. Where's the revolutionary product made with AI coding, or the company that couldn't exist without vibe coding?
    - jimbokun 3mo ago
      Claude Code.
  - jappgar 3mo ago
    Productivity gains maybe but nothing actually novel. And those productivity gains are moot if AI costs (including externalities) increase commensurately.
- fn-mote 3mo ago
  > AI hasn't done anything we couldn't already do. It's just doing it faster and with more mistakes. You forgot CHEAPER (at least now, burning VC money), which is a major motivating factor.
  - risyachka 3mo ago
    When you factor in all the factors (fixing issues, implementing features that were added only because it was easy and shouldn’t exist in the first place, losing skills in the process (this one is a fact), losing grip on the codebase etc - it is not cheaper at all, probably more expensive
    - moron4hire 3mo ago
      This is offshoring all over again.
prox 3mo ago
Your perspective is a short arc. “Look what I can do now and look it made me way more productive.” I have no doubt it is true, you are on the up right now. However thinking of the long arc is important to, even though it has no consequence for you right now. AI is a force multiplayer and scarily dangerous in the wrong hands. We can already see by these discussions how uncertain things are. Just food for thought.
- cobbzilla 3mo ago
  Yes, if the Cro-Magnons had guns they’d say “wow, hunting meat is WAY easier” and then experience massive-scale death in the future. But that kinda happened anyway in various places, just using much more primitive tools. Humans gonna human.
- fn-mote 3mo ago
  > AI is a force multiplayer and scarily dangerous in the wrong hands You have to spell this out a lot more if you want to have credibility. I’m not seeing anything in discussed here that seems scary.
  - handoflixue 3mo ago
    Already real: Automated scams & deepfake pornography. You can deepfake a real time video call to look and sound like someone else. If you're used to entering passwords this is easy to solve, but it's already a billion dollar industry. Moving into the future slightly: they're already getting decent at video games, and if they can win at Counterstrike they can probably also win at real-life Drone Warfare. I'd say the risks are mostly still hypothetical, though. There's a ton of reading out there if you take that idea seriously, but I don't blame you if you dismiss it as being a bit too "Science Fiction"
  - prox 3mo ago
    I think the sibling comment shares some good examples. Maybe future drone armies is another one. That you don’t see anything scary that’s your prerogative of course.
- reactordev 3mo ago
nsagent 3mo ago
> As it can run in the background doing “chores” while I sleep. Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the night family in Rick and Morty.
datadrivenangel 3mo ago
AI is extremely useful and 95% USELESS at the same time. LLM based chat AI systems are a poor version of all the things that are AI.

ndbe 3mo ago

[dead]

moron4hire 3mo ago

Apparently "being transformed" has "been transformed" because most things look a hell of a lot like the same thing these days.

jappgar 3mo ago

People's workday has been transformed by it. But I fail to see actual transformation beyond "more crap, faster." AI hasn't done anything we couldn't already do. It's just doing it faster and with more mistakes.

jimbokun 3mo ago
That just isn’t true. AI is capable of performing a lot of grunt work reliably. Still must be reviewed. But a big productivity gain over doing everything yourself.
- glimshe 3mo ago
  While I agree with you in principle, I think the parent has a point here: where's the amazing product that couldn't have been done without AI? By now we should have seen some major new invention/company, incredibly fast revolutionary feature rollouts etc but I'm just seeing more of the same.
  - reactordev 3mo ago
    not everything needs a unicorn product to validate it's existence. even just moving the field forward is sometimes enough to clear the air. what is clear is that we aren't going back.
  - handoflixue 3mo ago
    Curious, what revolutionary products would you cite, that existed within 4 years of the underlying technology? I feel like within that time frame, you're looking at "AOL chatrooms" for the internet, and I'm not even sure what the killer app was for smart phones - GPS was around before that. Computers do admittedly claim the Apollo program pretty early in, so I'll definitely concede that one - just curious if other revolutions have really lived up to that bar. As someone who grew up on modems, I struggle to view the modern world as really having a "killer app" that really couldn't have been done in the 90s
    - glimshe 3mo ago
      Visicalc was released 2 years after the Apple II was released. Visicalc changed the world for the better faster than AI has up to this point.
      - reactordev 3mo ago
        Anthropic released Claude in March 2023. Claude Code was released in February 2025. I'd say Claude Code had about as much impact as Visicalc.
        glimshe 3mo ago
        But Claude Code is the apple II in my analogy. Where's the revolutionary product made with AI coding, or the company that couldn't exist without vibe coding?
  - jimbokun 3mo ago
    Claude Code.
- jappgar 3mo ago
  Productivity gains maybe but nothing actually novel. And those productivity gains are moot if AI costs (including externalities) increase commensurately.
fn-mote 3mo ago
> AI hasn't done anything we couldn't already do. It's just doing it faster and with more mistakes. You forgot CHEAPER (at least now, burning VC money), which is a major motivating factor.
- risyachka 3mo ago
  When you factor in all the factors (fixing issues, implementing features that were added only because it was easy and shouldn’t exist in the first place, losing skills in the process (this one is a fact), losing grip on the codebase etc - it is not cheaper at all, probably more expensive
  - moron4hire 3mo ago
    This is offshoring all over again.

prox 3mo ago

Your perspective is a short arc. “Look what I can do now and look it made me way more productive.” I have no doubt it is true, you are on the up right now. However thinking of the long arc is important to, even though it has no consequence for you right now. AI is a force multiplayer and scarily dangerous in the wrong hands. We can already see by these discussions how uncertain things are. Just food for thought.

cobbzilla 3mo ago
Yes, if the Cro-Magnons had guns they’d say “wow, hunting meat is WAY easier” and then experience massive-scale death in the future. But that kinda happened anyway in various places, just using much more primitive tools. Humans gonna human.
fn-mote 3mo ago
> AI is a force multiplayer and scarily dangerous in the wrong hands You have to spell this out a lot more if you want to have credibility. I’m not seeing anything in discussed here that seems scary.
- handoflixue 3mo ago
  Already real: Automated scams & deepfake pornography. You can deepfake a real time video call to look and sound like someone else. If you're used to entering passwords this is easy to solve, but it's already a billion dollar industry. Moving into the future slightly: they're already getting decent at video games, and if they can win at Counterstrike they can probably also win at real-life Drone Warfare. I'd say the risks are mostly still hypothetical, though. There's a ton of reading out there if you take that idea seriously, but I don't blame you if you dismiss it as being a bit too "Science Fiction"
- prox 3mo ago
  I think the sibling comment shares some good examples. Maybe future drone armies is another one. That you don’t see anything scary that’s your prerogative of course.
reactordev 3mo ago

nsagent 3mo ago

> As it can run in the background doing “chores” while I sleep. Slightly off topic, but this reminds me of the night family in Rick and Morty.

datadrivenangel 3mo ago

AI is extremely useful and 95% USELESS at the same time. LLM based chat AI systems are a poor version of all the things that are AI.