(AI) Slop Terrifies Me
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What if this is as good as software is ever going to be? What if AI stops getting better and what if people stop caring?
All em dashes in this post are organically-made.
Imagine if this is as good as AI gets. If this is where it stops, you'd still have models that can almost code a web browser, almost code a compiler—and can even present a pretty cool demo if allowed to take a few shortcuts. You'd still get models that can kinda-sorta simulate worlds and write kinda-sorta engaging stories. You'd still get self-driving cars that almost work, except when they don't. You get AI that can make you like 90% of a thing!
90% is a lot. Will you care about the last 10%?
I'm terrified that you won't.
I'm terrified of the good enough to ship—and I'm terrified of nobody else caring. I'm less afraid of AI agents writing apps that they will never experience than I am of the AI herders who won't care enough to actually learn what they ship. And I sure as hell am afraid of the people who will experience the slop and will be fine with it.
As a woodworking enthusiast I am slowly making my peace with standing in the middle of an IKEA. But at the rate things are going in this dropshipping hell, IKEA would be the dream. Software temufication stings much more than software commoditization.
Are these the same needles in my heart that older programmers had when IDEs became mainstream?
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