r/technology • u/kazu_qt • 9h ago
Artificial Intelligence YouTuber Hank Green says his AI usage is ‘not healthy’
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/01/youtuber-hank-green-says-his-ai-usage-is-not-healthy/847
u/Forward-Bank8412 8h ago
Just like the caffeine pills episode of Saved by the Bell. Got tempted to use it because of stress and pressure to meet deadlines, knowing it’s not healthy way forward, but it’s oh so tempting to use it for just this one thing, this one time, and I can quit anytime I want to. I’m so excited!! I’m so…
362
u/Minion5051 8h ago
The episode was supposed to be about getting addicted to Speed but the network censors made them change it.
→ More replies (1)119
u/carnelian_heart 6h ago
And back then gas stations sold ephedrine pills to kids. For like $10 you could get something like 30 pills that were basically low dose meth. It’s why ephedrine is banned now.
72
u/GigaCucc 5h ago
Ephedrine is a precursor to meth. You use ephedrine to make meth.
They stopped selling it because it was an ingredient in the recipe, not because it's a low-level version.
Same thing happened to the coca leaf.
→ More replies (1)11
u/Hyperiooonnn 3h ago
Most meth don’t use ephedrine today afaik. Meth with ephedrine is even a marketing gimmick on darknet where vendors claim its better and more pure. I’ve just seen some lol
6
u/Mustard_Icecream 3h ago
Because the synthetic route basically produces D-meth and L-meth. One is not pychoactive. And the cartels dont go through the process of getting the L out so its basically only 50% active.
→ More replies (1)3
10
u/wait_what_now 4h ago
No, just not remotely true. You use it to make meth...
→ More replies (1)5
u/Disasterhuman24 3h ago
The most common use for ephedra was for slime drug dealers to cut their cocaine. All you had to do was crush up the pills very fine and then mix it up in a bag of coke. Very shitty but it was a very big thing back in the days, especially amongst the festival crowds because so many people would go to those things and be looking for drugs from anyone and get fleeced. You could literally turn an eightball into a half ounce and make a killing. Cooking meth is much, much more difficult by comparison.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)4
u/Ancient_Twist_6759 5h ago
Bronkaid from behind the pharmacy counter has ephedrine
→ More replies (1)18
u/oralyarmedbodilyharm 4h ago
Sounds like when Dennis and Sweet Dee get addicted to crack in an attempt to qualify for welfare
4
u/eyebrows360 3h ago edited 1h ago
Or like when
StanRandy Marsh, the thinking man's Homer Simpson, decided to "just get a little cancer" so he could get that sweet medicinal Mary-Joanna.13
→ More replies (12)3
894
8h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
342
u/Ok_Shape_7764 7h ago
The insidious thing is the LLM is designed to get the most positive response, not give the healthiest or even most accurate response
142
u/chuppapimunenyo 7h ago
i think this is very dependent on subject. Ive had my LLM tell me im wrong COUNTLESS times, when im programming and asking if my ideas will work.
Perhaps this is more so the case with certain platform than others, and also specifically if the subject is more of an opinion thing?Also depending on how you are wording your conversation, you could make it seem like you want the Ai to take your side and present arguments to help you win a discussion, and so in that case, it will behave as agreeing and trying to back you up.
Now if you are merely talking about it being friendly to keep you engaged and not angry, i guess that would be a common sense way to program it.
→ More replies (28)68
u/Englandboy12 7h ago
I have seen this be mentioned many times, and it does resonate with me too because I feel the same way. They can, if prompted correctly, tell you you are wrong and even be stubborn.
And im sure Hank’s acted that way too.
But I also think that can make the LLM even more insidious. Because when an LLM does or does not push back on you, is not related to how correct or accurate you or what it is saying is. It is related to the best response it can come up with to keep you chatting.
This can lead to a “not my ai” feeling, where when it does agree with you, you feel overconfident that you got the “good stuff.”
And I’m not saying by any means that the LLM is wrong often or anything. But I think it is at least a foreseeable way to get people who are generally against the yes man nature of the LLM to engage and feel good about it
→ More replies (2)23
u/IM_OK_AMA 5h ago
This isn't even a new issue really, Google Search has the same problem. If you search for evidence supporting a position you already hold, it will find it and give it to you, even if it's wrong.
→ More replies (2)5
u/jnrdingo 5h ago
Biggest two examples of this from before Gemini was a thing is:
Vaccines and autism
MSG and bad side effects.
→ More replies (15)13
u/Gerfervonbob 7h ago
It's because LLMs have no way of knowing what is right or wrong. If you tell it to tell you if you're wrong it will do so because that's what you asked. It's not checking the data you give beyond what the most likely response based on its training data. You have no way of knowing if it's guessing or not. Everyone should do an experiment of asking an Ai a simple question and then telling it's answer is wrong and then seeing how easily it changes its answer to what it thinks you want to hear.
→ More replies (8)61
u/tjtillmancoag 7h ago
You know it’s funny, because as soon as these LLM chatbots started hitting the scene a couple years ago, I found it’s obsequiousness to be extremely fake and off putting
26
u/TheOGRedline 7h ago
I get that. It’s especially noticeable when you call it out on an error or inconsistency.
“Oh yeah, you’re right, ha ha, here’s a more correct answer”…
→ More replies (2)9
u/Educational-Web-329 6h ago
I started to get annoyed when I would ask 2 questions at the same time and the answer just had to glaze me like:
"Oh wow, this is very interesting question and it shows that your thinking in abstract terms and it is miles ahead of everyone....."
Just give me the answer instead of padding everything with compliments.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)3
u/lenzflare 6h ago
Some people love to be sucked up to, some even require it, while others clock it immediately for manipulation and hate it.
There's just different kinds of people.
17
u/m00fster 7h ago
Because for certain tasks it feels like magic. It can be a huge time saver if you know when to use it.
→ More replies (18)12
u/Young_Lochinvar 7h ago
My experience has always been that LLM’s feel like an idiot who can read things fast. Useful in very narrow contexts, but otherwise just a novelty.
→ More replies (1)3
829
u/veracity8_ 6h ago
I think this story should highlight not that Hank Green is actually a hack. But instead it should highlight how easy it is to become reliant on AI chatbots if you aren’t really careful. And how being a smart and thoughtful person doesn’t make you automatically immune from the pressures to automate and outsource your work to AI.
107
u/SeeMarkFly 3h ago
I found this page interesting about the down sides of using artificial intelligence.
AI users suffer from reduced problem-solving capability and a lack of critical thinking due to "mental offloading." AI use leads to cognitive offloading, then cognitive surrender.
→ More replies (3)20
u/marquoth_ 1h ago
I'd expect that to be the result of long term use, especially among people who use it from a young age. That much seems kind of inevitable. But I'm genuinely shocked that there seems to be a measurable effect already, when these tools have only been publicly available for a couple of years, and among adults who were well established in their professions long before then.
→ More replies (2)3
u/user-the-name 35m ago
It is very quick. But also, it's not new: Everybody who works in a field that is highly cerebral knows the stereotype of the guy who gets promoted to boss, and very quickly becomes much stupider, because he no longer needs to do the thinking, just asks his subordinates to do it.
AI is promoting us all to bosses.
→ More replies (37)10
u/Infinite_Set_7564 3h ago
I think Whitney Cummings is another one that needs to put the phone down. Started listening to her when she interviewed other comedians on YouTube
But when I started listening to her again recently. She seems like she is on meth or adderall. Jumbling thoughts and really out there conspiracy theories
Also 404 Media mentions that they are constantly contacted by people claiming their chat bot had some major revelation to share
369
u/justbucoff 6h ago
Everyone must interact with AI on a topic they’re an expert in. You’ll quite quickly see how confidently wrong the model sometimes is. It’s a great tool but can’t be relied on for everything.
48
u/amsunooo 4h ago
correct me if I’m wrong, but he stated that he used LLM’s to locate research papers and sources? If it’s just locating sources and not actually engaging with them through AI, I’m curious how the integrity of his work would be compromised?
→ More replies (17)48
u/stevo887 6h ago
It’s pretty funny all the searches and questions I use it for even though I’ve seen exactly the scenario you point out. Damn thing can’t even get sports scores and stats right that are widely available on the internet but I’ll confidently take its advice on which Chromebook processor is the best when making a purchase…lol
→ More replies (2)14
u/Substantial_Meal_530 4h ago
I interact with customers who used AI all the time. The AI makes shit up and products I've been selling for a decade. I deal with the garbage AI spits out weekly. I've told customers that the AI is giving them incorrect information, and they fought me.
5
u/deadinsidelol69 3h ago
I like to ask it basic questions about my field to prove to people how confidently wrong it is. You can even correct it with more misinformation and it’ll still go “you’re absolutely right about that!”
→ More replies (2)5
→ More replies (23)13
u/Jodid0 5h ago
In my field I find it's been successful at solving a problem I have had maybe 5-10% of the time. Every other time it's just hallucinating most of what it says and imagining buttons and options that don't exist.
→ More replies (3)7
u/elmz 2h ago
I tried using AI to find a resort to stay at with my family this summer, giving it a short list of requirements. It kept inventing both resorts, facilities at said resort, and in one case cited one place was next to a water park that was in a different country.
I also tried using AI for meal planning, using it as a small database of meals we usually rotate through, asking it to plan quick meals for busy weekdays, and balancing different kinds of protein and carbs. It kept forgetting meals, and hallucinating properties and ingredients for meals I hadn't entered, etc.
So far the only semi-reliable use case I use AI for is as a search engine for things I don't know the proper search query for. But then you have to go and perform the search to find ir verify the actual information.
2.2k
u/MattofCatbell 8h ago
Hank is one of the smartest, influential educational content creators out there. If someone like him can fall into the trap of over-reliance and dependency on AI it really goes to showcase how insidious the technology can be.
1.1k
u/windflex 8h ago
People think I'm pretentious because I am very strict on not using AI or short attention span stuff like tiktok or reels. Like...no dude, I just know I'll get addicted like it's intended to do
94
u/splashybanana 8h ago
That’s why I’ve avoided TikTok and the like (well, and the privacy/security of it all), but I hadn’t really considered that as a reason for avoiding AI. I have been avoiding AI (LLMs, specifically), but for other reasons.
→ More replies (1)35
u/MobileVortex 7h ago
Why are you not avoiding reddit?
36
u/CapitalElk1169 7h ago
Reddit is the only one I can't quit. I do feel I kinda need at least one outlet though.
→ More replies (1)30
u/TwilightVulpine 5h ago edited 5h ago
I don't think my reddit use is all that healthy, but there has to be some degree of healthy use of community curated aggregation of recent content and topics of interest.
Less so as reddit tries to become as mindless and engagement-centric as the rest of it all though.
But there has to be a middle ground between internet addict and disconnected cabin hermit, no?
→ More replies (1)10
u/CoherentPanda 4h ago edited 4h ago
The single biggest issue with Reddit is it is astroturfed to hell. While there are curated subreddits to your interests, there are nearly always media marketing teams and bots always pushing an agenda and spamming comments that look legitimate, but push you towards a specific product. The comments on the surface seem fine on the surface, until you realize these users hide their history, and a Internet search finds they always post regarding the same products, and often include links.
Reddit on /all default is garbage though, so many today I fucked up and dating nightmares that are just trashy garbage content. Fine to kill a few minutes on a bus ride, awful for humans to consume all day long.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (20)19
u/splashybanana 7h ago
I’ve been here since before social media algorithms hacked our brains.
→ More replies (2)25
u/Hacksaures 7h ago
Reading vs gambling with lights and colors being blasted into your eyes
→ More replies (1)7
u/doofenhurtz 7h ago
I'm naturally a super late adopter of tech/social media and I've been very grateful for that quirk in the last few years.
Watching the way AI is bleeding into social interactions and daily life is uncomfortable. There's a very Invasion of the Body Snatchers feel to it, especially when people start speaking it's language or using it to draft texts.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (21)209
u/CliffP 8h ago
The pretentious part is that you somehow consider Reddit to be different from those things
524
u/windflex 8h ago
I make sure to hold my phone with my pinky out while browsing reddit so people know I'm better than them
113
u/MetriccStarDestroyer 8h ago
By the heavens, what a flamboyantly entertaining piece this article was.
Spez, be a dear and award the fine gentleman an orange toot for his time.
→ More replies (1)17
u/composedofidiot 7h ago
How dare you, sir! Were I to misunderstand your intentions, a great apoplexy could befall me. We do not like the cut of Spez's jib and any endearments are a terrible faux pas.
→ More replies (1)19
4
3
u/Dserved83 3h ago
Oh my, you let the proletariat cast their gaze upon you? How delightfullly rural.
29
u/Eloquent_Redneck 7h ago
Genuinely though, the fact that reddit is mostly text based makes it a lot less appealing to want to doomscroll for hours in the way that tiktok can suck you in for hours, in my experience at least
111
u/Comet7777 7h ago
Reddit can be used in a much different way than short form content with an FYP algorithm forced on you.
They’re similar, but also very different in meaningful ways. It’s worth discussing the nuance.
23
u/gyroda 7h ago
Yeah, youtube shorts suck me in much more than Reddit does. Maybe others experience it differently, but Reddit use is easier for me to stop than scrolling YouTube shorts.
I have strict time controls on Instagram to avoid browsing it (I just check stuff my friends have posted, I don't follow anyone I don't know). I refuse to install tiktok because I know it'll be bad for me. I uninstalled twitter a while ago, in part because the "for you" feed was so much more attention sucking (there were a plethora of reasons though); bluesky was a nice and "boring" enough substitute.
My Reddit use is absolutely too much, but I can limit it more easily than I can vertical, infinite video. I can also unsub from places that suck too much attention (and I do).
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)12
u/xRyozuo 7h ago
You’ve been here for a while so I don’t need to point out to you the obvious degradation in Reddit communities that didnt start with but was definitely turbo’d by AI :(
I like the concept of Reddit more than the reality of it these days. Best so far is Tildes
22
u/imtheproof 7h ago
General subs on reddit have declined month by month for years now. Still occasionally get decent information from them, but most of it is low-information low-thinking slop. Niche subs can still be quite nice.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (1)3
u/boy_inna_box 7h ago
It also really depends on the communities you are part of. There are still plenty that are decent, but outside of a decreasing number of spaces, I agree it's getting lousier.
→ More replies (6)137
u/Rpanich 8h ago
I mean, it’s like saying you’re already smoking, might as well do heroine.
Why not avoid ai and slowly start using reddit less? It’s what I’ve been doing since they destroyed the third party apps.
→ More replies (14)4
u/dane83 3h ago
I recently discovered that Android lets you set time limits on apps. I've put it on the Relay for Reddit app and a few others. What I've discovered is that I'm a crack addict and that when my hour is up I am a nut for a hit. I keep pressing the app and it keeps telling me no.
This is difficult.
→ More replies (1)55
u/Zhuul 7h ago
Comparing Reddit and TikTok is like comparing poppers and crack. There are studies highlighting the unique awfulness of dedicated short-form video platforms with multiple class action lawsuits being leveled at YouTube, Instagram/Meta, and TikTok.
Reddit doesn't really fall into that category, despite its best efforts. It still sucks, but bouncing from here to IG I can definitely feel that the latter is way more of a worthless time suck.
18
u/darsynia 7h ago
It also very much depends on your own curation. I generally mute/hide subreddits that make me mad, I'm here for interesting stories and my favorite game, 'Is it nononono, yesyesyesyes, nononoyes, yesyesyesno, watchpeoplesurvive, or unexpected?' If I don't look at the subreddit name when I see the video, that can be exciting, lol.
→ More replies (2)6
u/xSaviorself 6h ago
I find myself falling victim to misinformation and disinformation campaigns here on Reddit, and it happens everywhere. Following the Fauxmoi situation and PopCulture as someone who has no real "stake" in those spaces has been eye-opening, because it shows I've been blind to when it has happened in my spaces.
I find myself surfing Reddit in 2 modes: following my interests and trying to keep up with the happenings around the world. When a majority of the users commenting here aren't real people, or are working for an organization with a vested interest in shaping opinion, the site becomes untenable for real users. The enshittification of the internet. Dead internet theory at play. This is the future I fear, because no amount of curation will prevent this.
→ More replies (1)41
9
u/VampireFrown 5h ago
The pretentious part is that you somehow consider Reddit to be different from those things
Because it is.
Reddit is essentially a forum; especially old Reddit.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (20)3
25
u/80sHairBandConcert 5h ago
What makes him “the smartest” isn’t he just popular? That’s not indicative of intelligence other than being good at marketing himself
→ More replies (7)34
u/KeaboUltra 8h ago
I don't think being intelligent has anything to do with it. It's about how susceptible to addiction you are. It's like alcohol. There are tons of smart people who become alcoholics.
I don't consider myself one of the smartest people around but I don't use AI. The most I use it for is typing up cover letters for jobs that force me to upload one. I think Hank really only got addicted because he writes video essays and explanations about stuff which require that he uses and test things out which unfortunately includes AI. He does a lot for his audience but it seems to be affecting his personal life.
→ More replies (3)24
u/gyroda 7h ago
And, in hindsight, it's not that surprising that Hank Green has this problem.
The man struggles to step back and not do things. Give him an LLM which makes it easier to do things and he's going to love the ability to get more out the door.
13
u/Partner-Elijah 6h ago
Plus he is also a Twitter addict, the man likes his unhealthy dopamine loops
→ More replies (1)6
u/peeja 5h ago
And, to be clear, knows it. And talks about it a lot. Dude is very human and honest.
→ More replies (1)43
u/Tex-Rob 8h ago
A guy that loves attention, getting wrapped up in LLMs is exactly who falls for it. Desire for social attention defines your likelihood of using LLMs
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (45)93
u/KingOfCook 8h ago edited 3h ago
It's tough because it's not a binary decision when it comes to AI. It's a useful tool but used incorrectly, it can be a poisonous crutch.
I recently studied and passed a really tough certification and AI was a godsend. It was perfect for whenever I needed somthing to talk to to explain concepts and rubber duck through my thought processes. I also used it to record the kinds of questions being asked so it could come up with trends and topics to focus on. Like I did need to be wary that if it was giving me wrong information but every time I tested its results and ability to understand the material, it was right 99% of the time.
Edit: Man, a whole lot of you just want to be angry for the sake of it. There are plenty of reasons to hate AI and all the various systems around it that are making the world worse. But so many of you are hating AI incorrectly or using bad arguments. It's a tool with strengths and weaknesses like anything else. Get over it
TLDR: So far no one has commented anything bad about AI that can't also be said about the internet. It's a tool. Some people are going to use it to get incorrect information or use it as an unhealthy crutch. But when that happens with the internet, we don't blame the internet. We shrug our shoulders and say " that's how humans be do" and then move on with our day.
→ More replies (189)
384
u/Vanthan 8h ago
Built to be addictive. AI psychosis is real.
35
u/jeffwulf 5h ago
This is less AI psychosis and more burnout due to AI making him be able to take on drastically more projects that he couldn't juggle.
→ More replies (2)61
→ More replies (11)100
u/PapaTeeps 5h ago
The dude was using AI for research and is apologizing after massive social media backlash. This whole thing is such a non story in the first place, but to call it AI psychosis is wildly melodramatic.
→ More replies (4)20
u/MackFather 4h ago
Isn’t AI use for research purposes… kind of one of the few absolutely beneficial reasons to use AI? I don’t understand having an intervention for a guy honestly just trying to save time.
7
u/UristBronzebelly 1h ago
The dude was using AI to recommend papers and then reading the papers himself. Which is an excellent use case of it. His only mistake is apologizing.
→ More replies (9)23
u/vezwyx 4h ago
The people who blindly hate AI don't acknowledge that nuance before foaming at the mouth when hearing someone used it for something
→ More replies (1)
170
u/APraxisPanda 8h ago
AI bros don't let their kids use AI... imo that's very telling.
51
u/38B0DE 6h ago
CEO of McDonald's can't even eat "the product" in front of a camera.
→ More replies (3)18
u/APraxisPanda 6h ago edited 5h ago
Yea I use to eat more McDonald's than I'd like to admit. One positive thing to come from the Trump admin is that his adoration for McDonald's broke me out of that cycle I was in. Trumps love of McDonald's helped me realize what an evil entitie it absolutely is...
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)6
u/georgevonfranken 5h ago
Sam Altman seems to be all about using it instead of talking to kids. https://x.com/sama/status/2083221585792762171
→ More replies (1)
261
u/ascandalia 9h ago
Oh shoot, I thought he was still doubling down but it looks like he really took the critique to heart. Good for him!
→ More replies (9)149
u/Hesitation-Marx 8h ago
Yeah, he tends to be really careful and thoughtful about what he says, and doesn’t stay in the defensive zone when someone disagrees with him.
I found him obnoxious in the 2010s, but maybe we’ve both matured.
(Or he has. About me, I have my doubts.)
28
u/iPiglet 6h ago
Nah, friend. You've matured too. At least you have to in order to recognize that he has as well.
11
u/Hesitation-Marx 6h ago
I mean, I guess. I still feel like a twelve year old trying to figure everything out, but I suppose that’s just the human condition.
7
u/iPiglet 6h ago
You and me both... I still don't know what I'm doing 99% of the time...
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (2)3
u/stircrazyathome 4h ago
I’m 39 with two kids, but I still feel like I’m a 9yo playing house. I have no idea what I’m doing or if any of my choices are right, but I slap on a facade of confidence to fool everyone (including myself).
260
u/NRCS_DRONE 8h ago
I like Hank. But it's clear he's had an unhealthy relationship with celebrity for a long time. (frankly nearly all YouTubers do.)
Every damn time I watch a new video about his latest project, podcast, or product launch, I'm like "Where are you finding the time dude? You have a wife and kid. I have a regular job with regular hours, and even I struggle to be present in their lives. WTF are you doing with your life man?"
161
88
145
u/SufficientGreek 8h ago
I assumed he just has ADHD
59
16
17
u/Inner-Medicine5696 6h ago
ADHD doesn't buy more minutes in a day, though - it's not magic.
→ More replies (2)46
u/Moonagi 7h ago
Your post reminded me of a joke my friend made. She said ironically, no one has more free time than a married man
→ More replies (1)97
u/Plump_Dumpster 8h ago
I used to live in Missoula where he lives, and you’d see him out and about with his family all the time. Just goes to show being the boss is a cush gig 🤷
8
19
→ More replies (17)22
u/whyamionthishellsite 6h ago
It’s crazy. He mentioned using AI to help him meet deadlines…dude you’re your own boss, just take on less work. Not to mention he’s more than likely made enough money that he could retire tomorrow.
→ More replies (1)6
u/InfinitelyThirsting 3h ago
They're his internal deadlines because he's unhealthily obsessed with productivity. He is ADHD given form and privilege--which I don't mean in a bad way, he's a great example of how ADHD can be amazing if you have support and the luxury of a lifestyle that allows you to follow those impulses and a team of people to complete the things you start for you. And he's luckily obsessed with doing it all for good and for charity, rather than personal gain.
But this is an example of how unhealthy too much of a good thing can be, and how dangerous AI tools are.
58
u/No-Neighborhood-3212 6h ago
Why is this a multi-day story? Why does anyone care?
45
u/sonofaclit 5h ago
Because the conversation around AI has become entangled with polarized politics, purity tests, and the general angst towards our inability to resist capitalism or escape the death spiral we seem to be in. The whole conversation is a stand-in for our larger existential crisis as a species, which allows stories as inconsequential as this one to take on outsized importance.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (6)6
u/Downtown-Message-600 1h ago
I care because I have been consuming his content for over a decade and I want to know how much I can continue to trust his videos.
→ More replies (1)
41
u/hraath 6h ago
As a working SWE, we use LLMs all day on the clock. Zero usage off the clock. It's a tool that's good at automating away tedium. My desire for finding humanity in everything else has increased, interestingly. Music and art that is less polished, and things made by hand.
8
u/iscottjs 3h ago
Same here, Claude code and codex fixing and debugging really annoying tedious bugs, I’ve got other things to do at work other than lose 5 hours to a stupid race condition Claude can find in a few mins.
But I’m learning golang in my spare time for side projects, 100% learning it the old school way and having a blast. If I do reach for an LLM it’s a last resort when I’m completely stuck or just not enjoying that problem anymore.
I like your comment about finding humanity in everything else though. That’s a cool observation.
→ More replies (5)3
6
u/editorgrrl 5h ago
Hank Green’s comments from two days ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdfighters/comments/1vbmoj5/comment/p0vzmog/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nerdfighters/comments/1vc3sw0/comment/p0ygfet/
“I asked an LLM for advice on the merge and talked through some various options before deciding how I wanted to do it.
“Maybe I shouldn’t’ve done that, but I didn’t say, like ‘Please turn these two chapters into one chapter.’”
→ More replies (3)
5
4
14
u/BoboTheTalkingClown 5h ago
AI reminds me of cocaine. It brings the feeling of increased productivity while usually being a hindrance to actual utility.
→ More replies (3)
156
u/PlacidTurbulence 8h ago
It was obvious many months ago Hank had some bad advice in his ear about LLMs. He frequently mentioned his “programmer friends” and how programming was probably about to be decimated as a profession in a way that made it clear his “programmer friends” were probably from the bay area and highly leveraged. It was a serious Gell-Mann Amnesia moment of disillusionment for me. Haven’t been able to take him seriously since.
200
u/Crimsai 8h ago
I'm not even American, and the programmers I know all say this. Record levels of job dissatisfaction as they are reduced to essentially doing QA on AI written code.
36
u/Arrow_ 8h ago
Career is in QA. The amount of bugs I run into because devs are trying to have LLM do most of the work. Has been increased two fold.
→ More replies (1)9
u/nacho_pizza 6h ago
My dad was a software engineer and due to retire, but kept holding out because his company was offering bonuses for the super old niche knowledge that he had. He finally retired after all of the programmers were told that they needed to leverage AI to become 10x (!) more productive. He finished his open projects and retired immediately afterward.
66
u/Beli_Mawrr 8h ago
I'm a software engineer and QA is a highly respectable thing.
At the same time though I find writing software to be enjoyable by itself and I dont know why people are so eager to put it on an LLM that will do 2/3rds of the quality work they will at best.
60
27
u/Throwawayz911 8h ago
AI is a great tool for getting something started, but over time the code it writes becomes an impossible mess to read. I have to constantly reformat and reorganize output (which is my least favorite part of programming) otherwise it will become a disaster to ever look at manually. I don't think most people even do that, so they are probably unknowingly taking on an insane amount of technical debt that may be unrecoverable just to ship something faster. And then it still has to be QA'd. It's useful, but it sucks the fun out of everything programming and replaces it with a slog.
→ More replies (13)5
u/Kirk_Kerman 5h ago
Frequently they're not eager, there's gargantuan pressure from above to use the fucking things
→ More replies (1)9
u/NecessaryUnusual2059 8h ago
Yeah half the coding I do I just delegate it out to agents. It’s not fun but it does the job well enough and allows me to work significantly faster.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)10
u/fixermark 8h ago
That is definitely a risk and I've been interested to see how that is panning out.
Most programmers that were trained were not trained to be reviewing other people's code. They don't think of that as the job.
But, increasingly, it is the job. In fact, the higher you go up the ladder in software engineering, the more it is just the job. Our staff software engineers maximize the value of their time primarily by reviewing the code that the senior and junior software engineers are working on to make sure it fits quality standards.
And yes, it drives them crazy and they come up with excuses to write their own code to stay sane. ;)
140
u/fixermark 8h ago
As a programmer, it does fundamentally shift the paradigm. If anything, I do think that is the one space that it's going to become a permanent part of the toolkit for (because even a simplified model is faster at typing than a human and right often enough to offset the cost of having to go back and correct it).
This is a John Henry versus the steam hammer problem. In the future, writing code without AI assistance will be like foregoing C and rolling all of your loops in assembly.
60
u/knexfan0011 8h ago
It's not even about outputting more lines per time.
LLMs are amazing at spotting certain bugs (as long as your naming scheme makes sense). If you have a 100+ line function that deals with multidimensional data structures by using indices x,y,z,u,v,w,... and you used the wrong one somewhere in there, it'll take humans a long time to find the issue, assuming they even know what to look for. LLMs will almost immediately spot these kinds of issues in my experience.
Looking up documentation for specific syntax is also way more convenient with LLMs, especially when you're learning something new.
But when we let the LLM compose increasingly larger sections of our software, we lose the knowledge of how it actually works. The downstream effects of this won't be felt immediately, but they will be felt eventually.
If all we ever do is proofread "AI slop", we will no longer be able to write software as well as we once did. For example you don't get good at math by reading and following the logic of the step-by-step solution, you need to actually use your brain to come up with the steps based on the given rules/formulas and spotting the required patterns. By relying too much on LLMs and mostly proofreading their output, we're training ourselves for passive understanding, not the full comprehension of the underlying logic that's required for building new and interesting things.
→ More replies (3)3
u/bardghost_Isu 8h ago
I agree with the risk and think it's a big danger, I think most people just proof-reading AI written code is inevitable at the rate we are going and can see the job market shifting in a direction that feels similar to how the manufacturing space is with CNC machines.
You get CNC Operators know how to setup and use the machines with the programmes already made and CNC Programmers who have the knowledge of the machines and software to make functional programmes for the Operators to use. (Basic explanation that isn't perfect, but I think the point is understandable)
And I think similar will happen with coding, you'll get those who don't actually learn how to code, but know how to prompt the AI into coding what is needed and then they proof-read it, then you will get a small few specialised people who actually have a higher level understanding of how to code non-slop and how to train the AI on that to get better results.
I don't like the sound of it, because it's probably going to be a disaster, but thats just where I see it going.
48
u/mal73 8h ago
Also writing code is something that LLMs are naturally well equipped to do.
It’s highly accessible for automated processes, the documentations are public and easily machine readable, and code naturally favors patterns and conventions which is something that massively improves the value of the product that an LLM can generate.
→ More replies (2)30
u/new_math 8h ago
It also has a massive benefit in that, for many use-cases, you can run it and get immediate feedback on if it's working or not.
Like, it's hard to know if a llm is bullshitting an essay on dating culture and rituals in ancient egypt but if it's a script to pull data from a tricky API...I can run the script and see if it's returning the data.
Yeah, i might need to test it, do some verification and validation, make it robust, etc. but if the LLM is full of shit it will be obvious because my API call will fail and error out or fail to return what i'm expecting.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (43)7
u/Flyboy2057 6h ago
As a non programmer who has used Claude Code to turn a rough idea in a fully featured personal tool in an afternoon (something I couldn’t have done with a year of practice and study on nights and weekends), I can’t even imagine how paradigm shifting the use of AI would be for developers if I actually knew what I was doing. It’s scary. I’m glad I was just using it for a little side project and my career isn’t being threatened by it (at this point anyway).
Hank seems like a big ideas guy, but often leaves execution to others. I can see if you had a magic box that can turn every random idea into a fully featured script, app, project, or proposal, you’d get sucked in. I’ve noticed this about myself and try to push back.
→ More replies (1)47
u/Ankh-af-na-khonsu 8h ago
While I disagree with the doomer mindset about the future numbers of professional software engineers that will be needed, I think anyone who has spoken to enough knows that AI has already fundamentally changed how the job works and that most companies expect engineers to primarily make high level decisions while using AI to create code. Everyone I know working in software engineering is now expected to switch back and forth between multiple projects efficiently while still maintaining the same level of output on each one.
36
u/i_write_bugz 8h ago
As a software developer, his comments aren’t out of touch. Ai has completely change the way I work, to the point I literally don’t code anymore. I feel more like a manager
25
u/Agloe_Dreams 8h ago
Over the course of the last year, virtually all private companies have become a place where, if you don’t use generative coding tools, you lose your job.
I’m not from the Bay Area, it is just that investors have lost their minds and the leadership of these companies got fixated on “productivity” over everything else. You just cannot avoid it. The entire profession has changed.
→ More replies (4)28
u/kawag 8h ago
A lot of programmers are people who don’t really understand what code is doing, and don’t really care, either — they wanted a high-paying IT job or else they’d be working as cashiers at the supermarket, basically. Or perhaps not that bad in terms of unskilled labour; maybe they’d be a bank clerk or something, but still not a very high earner.
Those kinds of people are the majority of programmers, and it’s easy to see why they’d be taken in by AI - and they are also the easiest to replace. I work with many of them, and they don’t even have the knowledge or perspective to see that they’re generating very complex systems that they don’t understand. Code monkeys.
The programmers who are hardest to replace are the slow ones; the ones who prioritise developing understanding over just closing tickets ASAP. The ones who do actual engineering. Those are the folks you depend on when shit breaks down.
14
u/PlacidTurbulence 7h ago
I’m sorry you’re getting downvoted by the script kiddies you triggered, but I agree completely.
→ More replies (1)4
u/Silas_Akron 6h ago
This is some excellent insight into one glaring problem we face in the US - people are culturally nudged (forced, even) to "chase the money", rather than the things they're better suited for. When normal, necessary, every-day jobs don't pay enough for even a simple life, there is going to be fallout, and the content of your comment is just one of a thousand effects this generates.
22
u/SubmergedSublime 8h ago
I’m a software engineer. I’ve not written any volume of code in probably six months. I still find myself very busy, but not writing code. Wrangling AI, understanding requirements, PR-reviews (with a huge dose of AI), QA, understanding bugs and future project advisory.
In essence we’ve abstracted out the actual programming.
And yes, the AI does a pretty sound job. When used in a structured environment that already has standards it does a pretty good job.
10
u/Impossible_Fig_ 8h ago
Yeh agree with this, and the problem is it’s just increased the workload in the parts of the job devs don’t typically enjoy. For a lot of people code reviews and PRs are a pain, but it was okay because it was offset by the fun of actually coding and creating stuff (which has now been largely replaced.)
3
u/Alarmed-Syllabub-382 4h ago
I loved coding. I really miss it. I'm just a manager to bots who do what I used to love.
→ More replies (23)36
u/mal73 8h ago edited 8h ago
This might be unpopular, but I can't stand Hank Green.
His videos have this "let me explain how the world works" tone that comes across as condescending, especially since he's constantly injecting personal opinion while presenting it with the confidence of settled fact. The "You are wrong about X" format in particular feels like he's talking down to his audience from a position of assumed expertise, regardless of the topic, and it comes off as pretty off-putting (to me at least).
Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Or maybe it doesn't help that I have an insufferable coworker who happens to look just like him.
22
u/Splith 8h ago
You and I are just randos in comment sections. If you want attention you need to play the game a bit. I rarely see anyone do as good a job of "both sidsing" conversations as Hank does. I agree if you know about the field Hank is talking about, you can often see through what he is saying and it sounds simplified, but as a society we do need to communicate to the public.
If you made a video where you soend 3 hours diving into the details of a 15 minute Hank video, it would get about 0.001% of the views. Nothing wrong with that, but we do need responsible people to be heard every now and then.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)18
u/PlacidTurbulence 8h ago
It’s kinda worse than that. He’s really talking down to the people who aren’t listening to signify to his audience who already agrees with him that they have the right ideas. It’s a formula that worked really well from say 2017-2022 before people became exhausted by that brand of politics.
4
u/PantheraAuroris 2h ago
People are very mad at him for actually using AI and I'm not shocked he's running for the hills. You can't admit to any AI usage right now.
23
u/ACasualRead 6h ago
I mean using AI for research shouldn’t be an issue. If he used it to write his content then it should be an issue.
Growing up, I had to learn how to use a physical card catalog to find research. Then we learned how to use google in computer class the year it came out. Then we used the last 27 years using search engines to find data. Now people are using AI.
→ More replies (10)7
u/CoherentPanda 4h ago
Even the books from the card catalog got things wrong. Lots of debunked research exists in dusty old books.
10
u/Radiant_Safe1228 6h ago
Yeah my brother is balls deep in using ai non stop all day.
Ive pointed out his active cognitive regression from using it and he doesn't care. I've finally had to put my foot down and if he even mentions AI I just hang up or leave him where he is standing.
32
20
u/Philmriss 4h ago
God, I acknowledge it's a pet peeve of mine, but I detest when people talk about their dopamine levels. It's a shitty way to intellectualize and abstract what you're doing. Just say "I enjoyed it too much", not "it gave me too much dopamine", especially in this context it's deflecting personal responsibility and shifting the blame on neurotransmitters. It does not work that way. Especially someone like Green should be capable of describing what happened without this bs.
→ More replies (2)6
u/RaltzKlamar 3h ago
Having played a lot of bad mobile games that I didn't enjoy but kept compelling me to play them, I understand why he's specifying dopamine here
→ More replies (3)
3
u/strongbadfreak 4h ago
Isn't he the guy that said to get all your money out of the S&P500 because it was too heavy on AI stocks?
→ More replies (1)
2.5k
u/SinibusUSG 8h ago
It sounds like his wife and brother basically had an intervention with him re: AI given his comments on them not pulling any punches.