this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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142
The Dumbest Move in Tech Right Now: Laying Off Developers Because of AI (ppaolo.substack.com)
submitted 8 hours ago by mesamunefire@piefed.social to c/programming@programming.dev
39 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250515190754/https://ppaolo.substack.com/p/the-dumbest-move-in-tech-right-now

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[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 4 points 1 hour ago

The funny thing is that if AI coding were that good, we would already see widespread adoption in open source projects. But we haven't, because it sucks. Of course commercial software development companies are free to lie about how much they use AI, or get creative with their metrics so they can get their KPI bonuses. So we can't really believe anything they say. But we can believe in transparency.

As always, there are so many people selling snake oil by saying the word AI without actually telling you what they mean. Quite obviously there are a great many tools that one could call AI that can be and are and have been used to help do a ton of things, with many of those technologies going back decades. That's different from using ChatGPT to write your project. Whenever you hear someone write about AI and not give clear definitions, there's a good chance they're full of s***.

[–] pastel_de_airfryer@lemmy.eco.br 18 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

My theory is that C-suites are actually using "AI efficiency gain" as an excuse for laying off workers without scaring the shareholders.

"I didn't lay off 10% of the workforce because the company is failing. It's because... uhmmmm... AI! I have replaced them with AI! Please give us more money."

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 5 points 2 hours ago

It's the next RTO.

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 5 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I'm 90% sure it's something to do with the stock market, buy backs and companies having to do cryptic shit to keep up with a fake value to their shares

[–] ooo@sh.itjust.works 40 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Ironically, processing large amounts of data and making soft decisions and planning based on such data makes AI ideal for replacing C-suite members.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 16 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Pointing this out in company wide meetings is a fun past time.

[–] sirdorius@programming.dev 21 points 5 hours ago

Let's make a community powered, open source project to do this and watch them squirm when investors demand that million dollar CEOs get replaced with AI for higher investor returns.

[–] toastmeister@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

The money supply growth is far below the average, its tight monetary policy, so we are going to see a slowing job market.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 42 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

it means more ambitious, higher-quality products

No ... the opposite actually.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

Read the article before commenting.

The literal entire thesis is that AI should maintain developer headcounts and just let them be more productive, not reduce headcount in favour of AI.

The irony is that you're putting in less effort and critical thought into your comment than an AI would.

[–] hallettj@leminal.space 12 points 3 hours ago

For the sake of benefit of the doubt, it's possible to simultaneously understand the thesis of the article, and to hold the opinion that AI doesn't lead to higher-quality products. That would likely involve agreeing with the premise that laying off workers is a bad idea, but disagreeing (at least partially) with the reasoning why it's a bad idea.

[–] pezhore@infosec.pub 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I get what you're saying, but the problem is that AI seems to need way more hand holding and double checking before it can be considered ready for deployment.

I've used copilot for Ansible/Terraform code and 40-50% of the time it's just... wrong. It looks right, but it won't actually function.

For easy, entry programs it's fine, but I wouldn't (and don't) let it near complex projects.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Its not about writing easy entry programs, it's about writing code robustly.

Writing out test code where tests are isolated from each other, cover every edge case, and test every line of code, is tedious but pays dividends. AI makes it far less tedious to write out that test code and practice proper test driven development.

A well run dev team with enough senior people that manages the change properly should increase in velocity if they're already writing robust code, and increase in code quality if they're not.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 21 points 7 hours ago (5 children)

That middle graph is absolute fucking bullshit. AI is not fucking ever going to replace 75% of developers or I've been working way too fucking hard for way to little pay these past 30 years. It might let you cut staff 5-10% because it enables folks to accomplish certain things a bit faster.

Christ on a fucking crutch. Ask developers who are currently using AI (not the ones working for AI companies) how much time and effort it actually saves them. They will tell you.

[–] Zenith@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It doesn’t have to make sense or make the outcome be better, the only thing it has to do is make the company look better on paper to its shareholders. If something can make the company look better on paper it will be done, the quality of the work is not relevant

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

Not only the shareholders. If some of the higher level administration can get richer in the short run, even if that might actually hurt the shareholders in the medium run, you can bet that many of them will do so.

[–] nullPointer@programming.dev 10 points 5 hours ago

I use it here and there. it just seems to shift effort from writing code to reading and fixing code. the "amount" of work is about the same.

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social -1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I use it so much. All my Google searches for syntax or snippets? Web searches are unuseable at this point, AI can spit it out faster. But the real savings? Repetitive code. I suck at it, I always make typos and it's draining. I just toss in a table or an api response and tell it what I want and boom

It probably does write 75% of my code by lines, but maybe 5% of the business logic is AI (sometimes I just let it take a crack at a problem, but usually if I have to type it out I might as well code it)

What it's good at drains my concentration, so doing the grunt work for me is a real force multiplier. I don't even use it every day, but it might be a 3x multiplier for me and could improve

But here's the thing - programmers are not replaceable. Not by other humans, not by AI - you learn hyper specific things about what you work on

[–] groucho@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 hour ago

But the real savings? Repetitive code. I suck at it, I always make typos and it’s draining. I just toss in a table or an api response and tell it what I want and boom

Get better at it, manually, or you'll suck at it forever. It's a skill like anything else.

[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol -1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (2 children)

AI writing code for me made me the software architect I always dreamed of becoming.

I fucking LOVE to think about a hard problem for days, planning, researching, comming up with elegant solutions, doing quick POC, thinking what needs to be refactored for it to scale to a real life scenario, then documenting it all in a way that is properly communicating the important aspects in an easy to understand way. It's so exciting!

And I fucking HATE having to sit down and actually type out the solved code for hours and hours. It's so boring.

Best 20$ per month subscribtion I've ever had.

[–] groucho@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 hour ago

Yep. It's gonna be $20 forever, too. Have fun!

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 2 points 3 hours ago

Lol. Lmao even

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 0 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (2 children)

It does save a lot of time and effort, and does lead to better code in the hands of a skilled developer. Writing out thorough test code and actually doing proper test driven development suddenly becomes a lot less onerous.

Their graph also has no numbers and is just there to help visualize the difference they're referring to.

[–] nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

No it doesn't.

[–] masterspace@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Oh I'm glad you're the be all know all arbiter of all software developers, and not just some grump on the internet.

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

To the first part, I agree. A skilled developer who can quickly separate the wheat from the chaff can get a boost out of AI. I'd put it at around 5-10%, but I've had some tiny projects where it was 400% boost. I think it's a small net gain.

As for your second point I just have to disagree. There are no numbers but it is clearly selling the idea of the majority of code being AI generated, and that's bullshit whether it's an outright lie with numbers, or merely vaguely misleading. It's like when someone cuts off the bottom of a graph to make relative change look huge. It wants people to glance at it, get the wrong idea, and move off without curiosity.

[–] Feyd@programming.dev 5 points 3 hours ago

To the first part, I agree. A skilled developer who can quickly separate the wheat from the chaff can get a boost out of AI.

It takes less time to just write code than to babysit an artificial dumbass.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 14 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Also is substack the new meduim? I cant keep up with these freemium wordpress/blog clones.

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 13 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

Why do people always have to use some freemium offering when there's an opensource, self-hosted or already hosted variant out there? I don't get it. Just riding the wave I guess.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

My guess? The freemium stuff gives the promise of $$ after a certain level of popularity. And they make it VERY easy to use.

Personally, ive been thinking of using writefreely for its seamless integration of fediverse...but I really dont have a lot to say in the traditional space. IE screaming at the wailing wall (or at least it feels like screaming at the wailing wall).

[–] sirdorius@programming.dev 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Does a writefreely instance appear on lemmy as a community with posts written by the author? That would be so cool, and would go in the right direction of integrating different kinds of social media in one client.

[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I may test it out. I believe it will at least work with RSS and Piefed.

[–] thingsiplay@beehaw.org 9 points 8 hours ago

Its not that dumb as you think, its way dumber.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Right now? They’ve been doing this for two years!

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world -4 points 6 hours ago

Efficiency is free money. Anyone with 2 working brain cells sees opportunity when they are handed free money. People that lack the business acumen to take advantage of an opportunity, like what AI creates, should be purged immediately for profound incompetence and a lack of fundamental abstractive reasoning skills.

[–] andybytes@programming.dev -3 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

You know, it'll be a boomerang because really I've hoarded all information that is actually worth a damn and nothing's really going on in America. Such a boring country. You know, and I think these mass shooters are just kids that are bored, and disturbed, but definitely bored. All work and no play, makes a dull boy. These services that are ran by AI are not even anything that I need. I don't even know how the hype train really gets its funding. Other than more hype, but eventually some dumbass is going to be left with the bag and I think we're approaching that. I think the bursting bubble is coming. I recommend installing Linux on your computer. the Circle Jerk of Dumb Fuckery is coming to an end. And when I think about the government, it's fucking useless. So I don't need big tech and I don't need the government. I mean I do but I don't. It's like, thanks for nothing. So when I say to the billionaire, it's your move, Jackass. I'm really implying that he's got a go-full, totalitarian in order to get me to move on the chess board. America has always maintained this fake-ass democracy by managing perception, but if people around the world actually saw what our governments willing to do, the people in other countries would want to divorce themselves from the Yankee and then eventually they will grab the reins of their own countries and the imperialist empire of soft power America will dissolve. Which is the accelerationism that I would like because it's time to bust out the guillotine. Let the suckers fall let shit fall apart. It's getting to a point. I just think about Salazar in Portugal. I think the rich people will try to stir up some kind of civil war nonsense, but it seems like we're headed there though, but I don't know how that will all pan out. But I mean, I know the right wing idiots are just reactionary, and it's because their broke as fuck. You give em cookie and they'll calm down. The simple mind is sometimes cute and sometimes scary.

[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I could not comprehend what you were up to telling us.

But the summary is:

The key essence of this post is a deeply disillusioned and angry critique of modern American society, government, and technology. The author expresses a sense of frustration with the perceived emptiness, manipulation, and decay of U.S. institutions—seeing democracy as a facade, tech innovation as overhyped and hollow, and the government as ineffective. They convey a desire for systemic collapse or radical upheaval (accelerationism), suggesting that elites will soon resort to authoritarianism to maintain control. There’s also an undercurrent of socio-political pessimism, nihilism, and rejection of both corporate and state power—coupled with a belief that the current system is unsustainable and nearing a breaking point.

[–] bitcrafter@programming.dev 1 points 1 hour ago

I likewise had trouble understanding it, so because I am lazy I asked ChatGPT what to make of it, and it said:

The passage you've shared expresses a deep sense of disillusionment with various aspects of modern society, including technology, government, and cultural dynamics. Here's a summarized interpretation of the key themes:

Disillusionment with Technology and AI

The speaker criticizes the overhyped nature of AI services, suggesting that they are unnecessary and driven more by marketing than genuine utility. There's a belief that these technologies are not truly beneficial and may eventually lead to disappointment for those who invested in them.

Frustration with American Society

The speaker describes America as a "boring country," attributing issues like mass shootings to boredom and a lack of meaningful engagement among youth. There's a sense that societal problems are being ignored or mishandled, leading to a desire for significant change.

Cynicism Towards Government and Big Tech

The speaker expresses a deep mistrust of both the government and large technology companies, viewing them as ineffective or harmful. There's a call for individuals to become more self-reliant and skeptical of these institutions.

Desire for Radical Change

The speaker advocates for a dramatic transformation of the current system, likening it to a "bursting bubble." There's a reference to historical events, like the actions of Salazar in Portugal, as examples of how entrenched systems can be upended.

Critique of Political Extremes

The speaker acknowledges the reactionary nature of certain political groups, attributing their behavior to economic hardship. There's a recognition that simple solutions can sometimes pacify complex issues, but also a warning about the potential dangers of oversimplification.

This passage reflects a profound sense of frustration and a call for introspection and change in the face of perceived societal stagnation and dysfunction.

[–] salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 4 points 7 hours ago

I don't know how long you've been up, but it's time to step away and go to sleep.