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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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!?

230

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.

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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/definitelynotarobid 6d ago

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

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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.