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0 pointsrocmcd2mo ago0 comments

This has been my biggest question through this whole AI craze. If AI is making everyone X% more productive, where is the proof? Shouldn't we expect to see new startups now able to compete with large enterprises? Shouldn't we be seeing new amazing apps? New features being added? Shouldn't bugs be a thing of the past? Shouldn't uptime be a solved problem by now?

I look around and everything seems to be... the same? Apart from the availability of these AI tools, what has meaningfully changed since 2020?

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Sevii2mo ago

AI coding improved a lot over 2025. In early 2025 LLMs still struggled with counting. Now they are capable of tool calling so they can just use a calculator. Frankly, I'd say AI coding may as well have not existed before mid-2025. The output wasn't really that good. Sure you could generate code but couldn't rely on a coding agent to make 2 line edits to a 1000 line file.

rocmcdOP2mo ago

I don't doubt that they have improved a lot this year, but the same claims were being made last year as well. And the year before that. I still haven't seen anything that proves to me that people are truly that much more productive. They certainly _feel_ more productive, though.

Hell, the GP spent more than $50,000 this year on API calls alone and the results are... what again? Where is the innovation? Where are the tools that wouldn't have been possible to build pre-ChatGPT?

I'm constantly reminded of the Feynman quote: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool."

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