We've all seen it - ChatGPT genuinely solving coding puzzles. Clearly,
clearly, that's a long way from building MVP products, designing new programming languages or writing "Hello World" in Haskell. But it's also a long way since even GPT-3, never mind status quo 10 years ago. It would be cool to discuss what a future looks like where "human operators" of programming are competing against a machine. I don't think it is imminent, but equally I think it's less imminent than I did a week ago.
Some threads that come to mind:
- Are these language models better than current offshore outsourced coders? These can code too, sort of, and yet they don't threaten the software industry (much).
- What would SEs do if any layperson can say "hey AI slave, write me a program that..."? What would we, literally, do? Are there other, undersaturated professions we'd go into, where analytical thinking is required? Could we, ironically, wake up in a future where thinking skills are taken over by machine, and it's other skills - visual, physical labour, fine motor skills - that remain unautomated?
- Are we even the first ones in the firing line? Clearly, for now AI progress is mostly in text-based professions; we haven't seen a GPT equivalent for video comprehension, for example. Are lawyers at risk? Writers?
- What can SEs do, realistically, to protect themselves? Putting the genie back in the bottle is not, as discussed many times in other threads, an option.
- Or is it all bogus (with justification), and we're fine?
No doubt ChatGPT will chip in...
Some threads that come to mind:
- Are these language models better than current offshore outsourced coders? These can code too, sort of, and yet they don't threaten the software industry (much).
- What would SEs do if any layperson can say "hey AI slave, write me a program that..."? What would we, literally, do? Are there other, undersaturated professions we'd go into, where analytical thinking is required? Could we, ironically, wake up in a future where thinking skills are taken over by machine, and it's other skills - visual, physical labour, fine motor skills - that remain unautomated?
- Are we even the first ones in the firing line? Clearly, for now AI progress is mostly in text-based professions; we haven't seen a GPT equivalent for video comprehension, for example. Are lawyers at risk? Writers?
- What can SEs do, realistically, to protect themselves? Putting the genie back in the bottle is not, as discussed many times in other threads, an option.
- Or is it all bogus (with justification), and we're fine?
No doubt ChatGPT will chip in...