I’ve been reading about, listening to discussions about, and exploring AI tools myself more and more over the past few weeks. While I still don’t think that my assertions were necessarily wrong, I can’t deny the effect the tools are having now and will have on the industry in the future. The conclusion I’ve come to so far is 1. the tools are not going away anytime soon. 2. there’s a very good chance that software development and devops will be forever changed by these tools. 3. If you’re planning on staying in this industry for the foreseeable future, this is one of those waves you either ride or get rolled over by.
I don’t like it, and I still think that craftsmanship, technical knowledge, and ability are extremely important. However, consider what’s being built right now, tools like a software factory by StrongDM where software is being churned out without human interaction at all. If the AI/LLM tools continue to advance and get better, where does this lead in 5 years? In 10? Will all software just be a prompt away? Will we be able to define custom software solutions for each individual or organization with a well designed prompt?
Most organizations move slow, especially the larger ones. Some banks still rely on COBOL and mainframes. The code that’s running in the world right now will continue to need to run for a long time, but things are changing fast.
My biggest complaint against AI is the power requirements, and how these big companies are building massive data centers drinking up all the water and energy in the area. They did that in Des Moines where I live. One of the Microsoft data centers out here required more water than the raccoon river had available. Looks like that trend isn’t going to change anytime soon either. So, from a values point of view, I’m disappointed and worried, from a professional point of view, I see the change as inevitable.
That’s my 2¢ on AI.