So nostalgic. AI, self-driving, ramjets — they packed it all in. And the thing that dates it isn't any of that, it's that nothing is a touchscreen. The future used to be chunky buttons.
Why the heck does this have to be a scientific study? since when did SWEs publish archive style science peices.. lol a good blog post would have been better.
LLMs write working code, but have trouble following the script. They are slot machines of code. Human oversight is under pressure to deliver faster but code takes time to comprehend and analyze. Also in LLM coding, we end up with lots of natural language based spec files to manage and code we don't have an intuitive feel for unless we commit to the rigor of deep code review..(which no human really does anyway)
Ughh..Lets put people, humans, front and center again -I'm in the AI space too but when it comes to content and insight we need to be human focused and not machine driven. Especially opinion and insight pieces.
Bilal is not a writer he is a developer and founder. he founded a two person startup to use AI to produce podcasts. He calls himself a 'Product Engineer' which just means he is using claude and AI to develop..
The article he wrote has all the hallmarks of a lot of AI hyperbole and style. The author has some education in economics but no indication of any writing ability. so who knows what his real writing style is. I too can generate a similar article with Claude in about 30 seconds. Does that need to be read on top of HN too?
e.g this use of AI of the word 'line' is sooo annoying: The "they just overhired during COVID and are self correcting" line was the dominant"
So this ai article about ai is out there.. its out there influencing us even though it is largely speculation, hype and AI-content. The site he has is all AI written (which I am not opposed to but Bilal never worked at Meta, he never spoke with anyone in senior leadership.. So this is an opinion piece driven by AI influencer..that reaches the top of HN
Ok so what about its content here is the points he made (who knows how many he really thought of or that Claude created)
1. AI layoffs structural, not cyclical—"measurers" (middle management, finance, legal) hit hardest
Only producers/sellers and top leadership safe; the coordinating middle gets cut
(WHO knows if this is correct?)
2. Founder-led firms cut first—board trust buys 12–24 month head start
(Everyone is laying off, economy sucks, AI Cap expenditure and uncertianty..)
3. "10x engineer" becomes "1000x"; token data makes leverage brutally measurable
(not right now..yes for quickly built MVPs hardly as fast -1000x is just hyperbole)
4. Inequality explodes—first trillionaire soon, many to follow
(Pure speculation)
5. 2028 political backlash predicted: anti-elite, anti-AI populism, plus xenophobia
(sure maybe)
5. Regulation may cost U.S. the race vs. China
(hype driven influencer speil - AI is barely speeding up as fast as VC Bros are predicting)
I (50 Something AI Specialist) interviewed with 2 startups recently.. both passed -one said I was too qualified.. the other that I was too CTO type.. basically 20 somethings wanted other fellow 20 somethings -despite my AI experience.
I'm working with 3 other startups, but work is contract based, no healthcare and flaky..
Maybe you came off as too far above the grind? People that have recently been in more VPE/director type roles often don’t succeed at returning to IC work (or at least, hiring managers believe this).
yes stop kidding yourself that he is going in as a tech leader in terms of providing technical innovation..at that stage its your persona that matters not the tech (sure I think Anthropic is going to listen to his advice..but its a transactional marketing win primarly)
his value to Anthropic is his influence..he has over 2 million followers, and value is that he is the Top influencer for AI right now, like it or not. just like Selena Gomez might be for top for women age 21-29...
Every AI nerd I know reposts his (very thoughtful posts and projects mind you) like religon
It's funny that Anthropic needs to spend millions acquiring a dev doc platform, can't they just vibe code something up with Mythos a few junior devs at Anthropic?
We have Dario claiming SWE development is obsolete and both OpenAI and Anthropic and big tech bros like Musk are still spending millions like this..
Stainless has a laundry list of VC investors that overlap with Anthropic. It wouldn't surprise me if they're the ones engineering these kind of deals to shore up their books by shifting a loss-making investment inside a profitable one.
Powerful AI is here as Dario said in 2024. Open your eyes. Anthropic acquired Stainless because they know how to use Claude better than their own employees
Good luck man, keep at it.. rooting for you! now that I am in my 50s and being passed over for tech jobs thanks to a bad market, ageism, AI fears etc and I had to build my own career again and dived into the startup world, its not been easy but keep looking at all your options.
https://youtu.be/SpEO-jIKhE8?si=89Qw1_AOXYow9PfR
But ramjets have been promised to us for years
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