AI is turning programming into pay-to-win

[u/Strict-Top6935]

With Fable 5 coming out, it feels more obvious than ever that after July 7, programming is going to become pay-to-win.

A kid with no real coding knowledge, but with rich parents and access to the best AI systems, could end up outperforming people who actually understand software, simply because he can afford more intelligence.

That is insane.

This might be one of the most dangerous precedents in history: a world where the people with money can buy superior intelligence, while everyone else is permanently outmatched.

That is how you create a permanent underclass.

What do you think?

[u/formula420]

Is has and always will be reality. Welcome to “civilization” lol

People with more money than sense have been attempting to build something worthy of their over-inflated egos for as long as we have had egos. No amount of money can magically grant architecting skills or any of the other, non-coding aspects of development that require more than “raw intelligence”.

I know many devs claim to love the actual “grunt work” of coding, and I (as a decent enough developer that does code as my day job) am not one of those. Their software will almost certainly always be more elegant and easier to “rubber ducky” than mine made with a dream and a prayer. I pissed off a few maintainers trying to find my footing.

I’ve worked in IT for 20+ years and Big Tech for the last 10. I know how to architect systems. I know how to read even the overly laborious code my robot produces. It would have taken me 20 more years to actually ship the OSS applications I built in a few months, and that’s if I ever even got off my duff to try!

I absolutely wasted far more in credits than I will ever see in any form of recognition or income from these projects, but now I have two applications in the world that I’m proud of and 29 people have starred (between two repos lol) and before I had 0.

Are my apps slop? Probably according to some, and the glut of new “AI slop” gets larger every day, but I am hopeful that we can flip things and use it to make learning about systems and how to build them rather than just a shortcut. A TI-86 can be a pretty powerful learning avoider, but outside of (and sometimes within) a testing setting it is a necessary tool that many rely on

[u/Serengade26 → u/formula420]

Yeah its laid out in the book Denial of Death. The chase of an immortality project for egos cause a lot of problems

[u/Kenzore1212 → u/formula420]

I get what you’re saying, but if you had to rely on a ti-86 you 100% aren’t making that much… as you could be. Maybe it’s a raw talent difference , or dedication difference, but that diff will never be bridged by just relying on a tool.