GoKawiilHave you opened X or a tech news site lately? Then you are probably familiar, even exhausted by, posts like these:
Do you want to hear a secret?
This is marketing.
The message is simple:
AI will beat the smelly humans. It is faster, cheaper, tireless, and anyone who doubts this (usually the experts in a field) is a dumb luddite who failed to adapt (and will end up in the permanent underclass).
Conveniently, adaptation means buying the $200/mo subscription and convincing your boss to spend $4000/mo on tokens so you can work faster/better/harder.
Artifacts are not Work
Compilers did not replace programmers. Spreadsheets did not replace accountants. CAD systems did not replace engineers. These tools changed what competent people, the experts, could do, how fast they could do it, and how much complexity they could manage.
A compiler can translate code, but does not understand software. A programmer does. A spreadsheet can calculate, but does not know what calculations are important for the next quarter. An accountant does. CAD can model a bridge, but it cannot decide whether to simply upgrade the one 200 meters downstream. An engineer can.
Visible output is just a small part of the actual job done. AI companies reduce work to the visible output, the artifact, completely ignoring the value in understanding that comes from the process of producing that artifact.
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