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I've been pretty consistent about my disinterest in AGI: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Agi%20author%3Asimonw&sort=byDate&type=c

by simonw 1mo ago

I've been pretty consistent about my disinterest in AGI: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Agi%20author%3Asimonw&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... "You have a very strong track record of speaking out of both sides of your mouth in different settings." If I have a consistent record of that it should be very easy for you to come up with the some examples.

GPerson 1mo ago
Someone who is disinterested in AGI does not make a hard transition in their career into uncritically promoting the products of the only two companies which have stated their goal is to create AGI. One example of this contradiction appears above. Another appeared in a previous thread where you meekly pretended your pelican benchmark is evidence against the power of AI tools. It is obvious you don’t think this because you frequently describe these AI outputs as ‘lovely’ etc. A third appeared when you took a performative stance against AI engineers who do not understand or take responsibility for their software, while simultaneously representing yourself as a person who cannot believe this is a real problem. There are many many more.
- simonw 1mo ago
  Uncritically?
  - GPerson 1mo ago
    Yes. Do you actually believe it is reasonable to take away from your blog posts a critical stance on AI?
    - simonw 1mo ago
      If your definition of "critical" is "this stuff is all bullshit and doesn't work" then no. If you're looking for coverage that talks about what doesn't work as well as things that do then I've been persistently providing that for four years now. Plus prompt injection, AI misuse, AI ethics... I consider all of those part of my "beat" in covering this industry. My post about Claude's latest system prompt (and how it was likely inspired by lawsuits filed against Anthropic) was on the homepage here just a few hours ago. Is that uncritical? https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/2/claudes-new-system-prompt/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/2/claudes-new-system-prom...
      - GPerson 1mo ago
        Interestingly I don’t think this stuff is all bullshit and doesn’t work, and haven’t at least since 2022. My angle is that AI is powerful and harmful. Your work is in support of making it more powerful and more harmful, and looks a lot like an effort to push us toward AGI, not away from it. Is a musket more or less harmful than a modern rifle, and for whom? Since we’re pulling random posts, was your blog post celebrating going out with your family while Claude wrote a large project for you an instance of your critical stance on AI capability? Have your many enthusiastic posts about increased AI capability shown a critical stance?
        simonw 1mo ago
        You mean this one? https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/15/porting-justhtml/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/15/porting-justhtml/ I think that's a good illustration of my critical stance. It ends with several open questions: Even if this is legal, is it ethical to build a library in this way? Does this format of development hurt the open source ecosystem? Can I even assert copyright over this, given how much of the work was produced by the LLM? Is it responsible to publish software libraries built in this way? Which I later answered in another post: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/11/answers/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/11/answers/
        simonw 1mo ago
        And just in case we are talking about different things here... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/criticism https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/criticis... presents two different definitions (among several) of "criticism": "the act of saying that something or someone is bad or a comment that says what is bad about it" And "writing or speech that expresses opinions or judgments about the good or bad qualities of something or someone" I'm talking about the second here, not the first.
        GPerson 1mo ago
        By uncritical I was trying to convey something like “without awareness or concern for the consequences of one’s own actions” and “without concern for one’s moral responsibility”. You are a better writer than I am so I’ll defer to you on whether or not this is incorrect usage. I agree that you criticize the products at the product level. This is what someone who wants to make the products better does. It is not what someone presenting as a journalist or reporter keeping an institution in check does. A journalist or reporter of government who gives tips to the administration by pointing out how they can dismantle institutions faster would be uncritical in their role, I think; this is just an analogy. Give me a moment to consider your previous post.
GPerson 1mo ago
I was considering our interchange yesterday. I apologize for my rude manner in expressing my views. I do appreciate that you have the conscientiousness to engage with your detractors. From my perspective the whole AI Revolution has been deranged in many ways and it has perhaps deranged me as well. I do hold passionate views at odds with some of yours (and many others on this website). It does feel like an existential threat, so I don’t know if respectful calmness is appropriate in all circumstances. One must fight for your beliefs at the end of the day. But I’ll think about channeling my rage differently.
- simonw 1mo ago
  Thanks for saying that. For what it's worth, I kept engaging because you clearly had a perspective based on real issues and deep consideration.

by simonw 1mo ago

GPerson 1mo ago

Someone who is disinterested in AGI does not make a hard transition in their career into uncritically promoting the products of the only two companies which have stated their goal is to create AGI. One example of this contradiction appears above. Another appeared in a previous thread where you meekly pretended your pelican benchmark is evidence against the power of AI tools. It is obvious you don’t think this because you frequently describe these AI outputs as ‘lovely’ etc. A third appeared when you took a performative stance against AI engineers who do not understand or take responsibility for their software, while simultaneously representing yourself as a person who cannot believe this is a real problem. There are many many more.

simonw 1mo ago
Uncritically?
- GPerson 1mo ago
  Yes. Do you actually believe it is reasonable to take away from your blog posts a critical stance on AI?
  - simonw 1mo ago
    If your definition of "critical" is "this stuff is all bullshit and doesn't work" then no. If you're looking for coverage that talks about what doesn't work as well as things that do then I've been persistently providing that for four years now. Plus prompt injection, AI misuse, AI ethics... I consider all of those part of my "beat" in covering this industry. My post about Claude's latest system prompt (and how it was likely inspired by lawsuits filed against Anthropic) was on the homepage here just a few hours ago. Is that uncritical? https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/2/claudes-new-system-prompt/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/2/claudes-new-system-prom...
    - GPerson 1mo ago
      Interestingly I don’t think this stuff is all bullshit and doesn’t work, and haven’t at least since 2022. My angle is that AI is powerful and harmful. Your work is in support of making it more powerful and more harmful, and looks a lot like an effort to push us toward AGI, not away from it. Is a musket more or less harmful than a modern rifle, and for whom? Since we’re pulling random posts, was your blog post celebrating going out with your family while Claude wrote a large project for you an instance of your critical stance on AI capability? Have your many enthusiastic posts about increased AI capability shown a critical stance?
      - simonw 1mo ago
        You mean this one? https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/15/porting-justhtml/ https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/15/porting-justhtml/ I think that's a good illustration of my critical stance. It ends with several open questions: Even if this is legal, is it ethical to build a library in this way? Does this format of development hurt the open source ecosystem? Can I even assert copyright over this, given how much of the work was produced by the LLM? Is it responsible to publish software libraries built in this way? Which I later answered in another post: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/11/answers/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/11/answers/
        simonw 1mo ago
        And just in case we are talking about different things here... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/criticism https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/criticis... presents two different definitions (among several) of "criticism": "the act of saying that something or someone is bad or a comment that says what is bad about it" And "writing or speech that expresses opinions or judgments about the good or bad qualities of something or someone" I'm talking about the second here, not the first.
        GPerson 1mo ago
        By uncritical I was trying to convey something like “without awareness or concern for the consequences of one’s own actions” and “without concern for one’s moral responsibility”. You are a better writer than I am so I’ll defer to you on whether or not this is incorrect usage. I agree that you criticize the products at the product level. This is what someone who wants to make the products better does. It is not what someone presenting as a journalist or reporter keeping an institution in check does. A journalist or reporter of government who gives tips to the administration by pointing out how they can dismantle institutions faster would be uncritical in their role, I think; this is just an analogy. Give me a moment to consider your previous post.

GPerson 1mo ago

I was considering our interchange yesterday. I apologize for my rude manner in expressing my views. I do appreciate that you have the conscientiousness to engage with your detractors. From my perspective the whole AI Revolution has been deranged in many ways and it has perhaps deranged me as well. I do hold passionate views at odds with some of yours (and many others on this website). It does feel like an existential threat, so I don’t know if respectful calmness is appropriate in all circumstances. One must fight for your beliefs at the end of the day. But I’ll think about channeling my rage differently.

simonw 1mo ago
Thanks for saying that. For what it's worth, I kept engaging because you clearly had a perspective based on real issues and deep consideration.