Tell HN: How to Think about AI

by keepamovinon 11/21/2025, 3:29 PMwith 9 comments

Yep, that's the title. Stop thinking of AI like an unfair "cheatcode" and start thinking of it as a new programming language. Maybe in other domains, this analogy doesn't match. But that's okay. You're mostly concerned about coding/sysadmin/etc.

People think that AI lowers the bar too much, eroding the influence of experts, degrading quality. Maybe so. But this is not new. The same was surely said when C threatened the monopoly of B, and machine code, etc. C allowed "not real programmers" to write programs. This was anathema. A violation of the sacred codex! Heretical! And yet, it worked. Now C is beloved of (almost) all. At least revered.

And so on, and so on. AI is just a new programming language. It is not "conscious". It is not AGI. It is barely a form of mechanized intelligence. It is not your friend. It is just a thing. A tool. A very useful, multi-tool. But still (right now), a tool.

That's how you think about AI, and win. You don't get bitter. You don't even need to "get even". You just get on with it. Just do it. Use it. It's a tool. So get to work! :)

by JohnFenon 11/21/2025, 3:55 PM

> Stop thinking of AI like an unfair "cheatcode" and start thinking of it as a new programming language.

I have never thought of it as a cheat code at all. I also don't think of it as a new programming language (because it's not). It's a tool.

It's not one that I find all that useful, and under ordinary circumstances, all that would mean is that I don't use it. Where the hard feelings come in is that it's being shoved into other tools that I use and so is increasingly becoming an irritation that gets in my way. The constant stream of sales pitches and propaganda doesn't help, either.

by codingdaveon 11/21/2025, 3:48 PM

If your C code just pseudo-randomly ran the wrong code, gave the wrong results, would you be happy with it? Would having to write half a dozen programs to cross-check each others work to make C efficient? What if you could not write C from scratch and only could hire interns to go find and copy/paste pre-existing C code?

Yes, absolutely, AI is a tool. But it has some serious weaknesses and anyone who isn't educated and open about those weaknesses is going to apply the tool in the wrong places.

by jjgreenon 11/21/2025, 4:57 PM

Some more years of PhDs researching, a million GPUs burning the sky and your language may be able to count the number of "r"s in strawberry. Or 3 minutes in C.

Get to work!

by almosthereon 11/21/2025, 3:59 PM

This is the right way to think about ai right now.

by german_dongon 11/21/2025, 4:39 PM

So get to work!

Work, what's that? -- 25yo CS grad jerking it in childhood bedroom

by ihsanfon 11/21/2025, 3:38 PM

it's a tool until it's no more