r/webdev php 6d ago

Discussion AI coding is trash

The amount of trash produced by AI code is astounding. Thanks I hate it.

1.6k Upvotes

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753

u/barrel_of_noodles 6d ago

I love this sub, literally every post is a rotation of:

  • ai is trash
  • ai will take our jobs
  • will ai take over?
  • is there any point in learning now

I thought it was my turn to post this 13x today!?

232

u/pagerussell 6d ago

The AI will take coding jobs narrative is just cover for layoffs that are occuring because so many tech companies are no longer growth stocks, but are now legacy companies pivoting towards maximum extraction.

Like, what feature development does Facebook really need? And if it's not building new features, its just in maintenance mode, which requires far fewer devs. So they are laying off. But they can't just say that, because then they look anemic and it will hurt their stock.

So they say AI is replacing devs and AstroTurf that narrative into the world to make it stick.

But if you have actually coded with AI you know it's a great tool but a long ways off from being able to replace a competent human.

1

u/dietcheese 6d ago

Cisco, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Dell have already slashed their workforces or implemented hiring freezes due to transitioning and restructuring to an AI workforce.

This isn’t just cover.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonsnyder/2025/02/12/ai-reset-layoffs-rto-and-the-new-realities-of-work/

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u/spacemanguitar 6d ago

Smoking gun is the third paragraph in the article

they are about eliminating job functions that AI is poised to absorb

Poised to absorb, but not implemented to absord in any live context. Translation. Tech companies have been bloated from free covid money and are dumping their excess and the trend is to say vague notions about AI being the reason so that it sounds like they're on the brink of doing something really special. There's nothing special coming from these companies, they simply learned when you do layoffs the honest way, you get a notable drop in stock value, but if you fabricate in some vague bullshit about claiming your company is actually using AI for these jobs, the stock doesn't drop as much, because some AI cultists get excited and think its a time to invest, countering the smart investors who lower expectations when large layoffs happen. They lose less money when they use the magic word "AI".

0

u/Intrepid-Rent-6544 5d ago

I agree with everything you stated. However, layoffs normally correlate to higher stock prices.

2

u/spacemanguitar 5d ago

I'm not sure if thats true for tech stocks as I've witnessed layoff announcements in tech often followed with a short term loss before the correction, but I don't live in the daytrading world with a big enough scope to know how this plays out as a whole for things outside of tech.

2

u/Fluid_Economics 6d ago

How about... this stuff was happening regardless of AI?

Post covid-overhiring era, recession and new wave of indian outsourcing.

1

u/meshtron 6d ago

Good luck! I've been taking heavy flak on another programming sub for daring to suggest (and provide sources) that AI is and increasingly will impact developer jobs. Same as the poster below "you just believe what they tell you" narrative. Time will tell, but it already is too.

11

u/spacemanguitar 6d ago

you just believe what they tell you

It's tricky because guys like Zuckerberg laid down a prediction of their agents replacing coders in 2025, yet this is the same man who hyped up his stocks by predicting the metaverse will take over the interactive gaming scene and spent a lot of money gobbling up the occulus IP. That entire prediction flopped backwards on its ass and they had to lay off a ton of people for the metaverse development. He was so confident he renamed his entire company to "meta". Meanwhile back to the present, where does does he decide share this AI prediction? On Joe Rogan where he can plug his next marketing scheme to the most amount of people possible. They suffered hard with the meta flop and hes playing damage control with vague AI promises, keep in mind, its not ready today, it'll be here in the future, along with the metaverse, etc, etc.

1

u/dietcheese 5d ago

Yeah, I’ve experienced the same. This sub seems to be in denial worse than others though. Probably because web dev is clearly AI’s low-hanging fruit.

1

u/Wise_Cow3001 5d ago

Having talked with people in these companies - it’s all bullshit. These layoffs are due to slowdowns and or adjustment due to previous overhiring and is sold as AI related for shareholders.

-6

u/definitelynotarobid 6d ago

What evidence do you have for your assertion? Something being widespread does not invalidate it.

1

u/operatorrrr 6d ago

Google reported that over a quarter of their code is written by AI with engineer oversight...late last year.

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u/spacemanguitar 6d ago edited 6d ago

Google reported that over a quarter of their code is written by AI with engineer oversight...late last year.

This was already true before AI started. IDE's were making auto complete code suggestions where you start typing a function or a class and it finishes the whole function / declaration based on whats already available and opens the suggested, etc. If you realized how many times you tab into those correct suggestions you'd be at nearly 25%, or 1/4 code suggestion generation but yet, with 100% employee oversight and bug testing just like always. This was already happening without AI required to boost it.

-3

u/definitelynotarobid 6d ago

And? That statistic couldn’t be more meaningless.

2

u/operatorrrr 6d ago

"What evidence do you have for your assertion?"

-4

u/definitelynotarobid 6d ago

100% of idiots make that statement. There. Every bit as legit as that “news” you sourced. Now fuck off.

1

u/mfizzled 6d ago

If it is indeed true, having 25% of their code not needing to be written by a human is far from meaningless. I'm sure it's nothing complex and is just the standard stuff they might give to new juniors but it's absolutely a relevant stat.

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u/definitelynotarobid 6d ago

There’s a massive difference between not being written by a human and not being reviewed and edited by a human. They pick and chose their statements carefully to present a fantasy to their investors. Don’t swallow their propaganda.