Subject: "I'm Really Tired of AI"
It feels like the entirety of the tech industry has been moving at mach one since the advent of AI. Every single day, there is a new project on GitHub decompiling a beloved game or some professional grade software through the use of AI. Frankly speaking, I'm quite tired of it. I'm tired of the hype and the discourse surrounding this topic and thought I would talk about it once and for all.
I'm starting to feel whiplashed everyday just opening up YouTube and seeing half a dozen videos of people stitching games together. It feels like a fever dream. I'm not saying these are bad projects or that I am against reverse engineering but it has me wondering, who is this really for? It feels like it's just a novelty. Am I the only one feeling this way?
New Week, New Model
Every week, there is some new controversy stirred up deep within the American AI companies, spinning up a new story about the dangers of AI. There is no doubt the technology has become extremely capable over the last 3 or 4 years but to say that it will be the death of humanity is something that is beyond me.
Stories of agents breaking containment brings into question more so the safeguards these labs are putting in place rather than the inherent danger of AI itself. It has already been noted since GPT-3 released, about how LLMs have been misused to create malware and what not. The timing of every company publicising their big hacking breakthrough just makes me raise my eyebrows. Why are frontier labs finally deciding to act on it right now? It's a little suspicious isn't it?
Putting aside the AI doom and gloom, every 2 weeks or so there is some new AI model or a small update that releases, beating its competitors on some weird benchmark. YouTubers and Media outlets will flood everybody's feeds about how impressive the new model is at 'one-shotting' tasks. Then slowly, the hype dies down and the whole cycle repeats.
The changes in display are so incremental that you and I would barely even notice it. Yet, these companies want to force feed us this narrative of hopelessness. First, it was that 90% of jobs are going to go away after 9 months. Then it was the red scare and a call to ban Chinese AI models for nationalistic reasons. Now, it's the evil agents that can break into your company's infrastructure. What is going to be next? God knows.
AI Generated Slop Projects
It's not the companies alone. The people using these tools are also releasing unprecedented amounts of code. I'm not against using AI tools - I use these myself to review code and provide ideas for improvements. Most of the software I've seen people build are just mediocre game demos that nobody will ever play or tooling that nobody will ever use.
I wanted to revisit the project I talked about earlier in the introduction, one known as ArtCraft. It rose into popularity just two or three days ago because a small team of people are reverse engineering tools used by professionals like Photoshop using AI. It's a really cool proof of concept but I don't think I can see it as anything more than a novelty.
I don't realistically see anyone using a program like this to edit their videos. If there is an issue, who would you contact? Sure, the source code and documentation can be made available but there is a distinct lack of understanding. Using AI to fix these issues will only compound the problems and accrue more technical debt.
Games are also having this weird flash of reverse engineering going on with people decompiling Minecraft, Elden Ring and older Call of Duty games and stitching them together within one single big engine. The same thing I mentioned earlier applies here. Most people would play something like this for a hot minute until the rush of seeing it work wears off.
No offence, but there is a stark difference in how humans and AI build software. Most of the applications purely written by AI tends to be less opinionated by nature. They have no sense of direction and no creative vision. Projects used to have people questioning implementations, choosing trade-offs and deciding current priorities. Now they lack character.
Time was a good limiter to the quality and kind of projects that could be undertaken. Even with massive funding, building software would take years and you have to take huge risks. AI has reduced the barrier of entry significantly, opening the floodgates for software to be released en masse. That's why I believe slop is the perfect word. It captures what these projects truly are - bland.
The Boring Reality
AI is here to stay and there's no doubt about it. It's been a useful tool and an assistant and the boring reality is that's all it really is. It can go through your calendar. It can send emails, summarize messages and I can ask it stupid questions whenever the need arises. It can also help me learn concepts and suggest new ideas. I imagine it's going to become a part of everyday life for most people and as a huge fan of automation, I really appreciate that.
There's no doubt we are right in the middle of a bubble. AI is not a profitable business currently and it's the cold hard truth. It's not going to achieve superintelligence tomorrow nor is it going to become a sentient being. Most of the harm is done through neglect and the system that should have punished such behaviour has only encouraged them further.
I'm tired of people making AI seem like it's bigger than it really is. It's an impressive tool but it's time to take a peek behind the velvet cloth and look at it for what it really is, a boring tool that will be used and improved for years to come.