98 points ColinWright 13 hours ago 97 comments
gnabgib 12 hours ago | parent
TutleCpt 11 hours ago | parent
hoppp 11 hours ago | parent
josefritzishere 11 hours ago | parent
blindhippo 10 hours ago | parent
If we abdicate and let all software development and operations occur through the use of fully autonomous agents, someone is still ultimately responsible for the agents work/screw-ups. Thus, there is still a human writing code, from an ownership perspective. We all know it won't be the capital/manager class holding the stick there.
krapp 10 hours ago | parent
That isn't what "writing code" means. The responsibility is for using the AI, or being negligent in doing so, but the AI is obviously writing the code. That's the entire point of it.
smsm42 10 hours ago | parent
phyzome 10 hours ago | parent
28304283409234 10 hours ago | parent
InsideOutSanta 10 hours ago | parent
Unfortunately, it's not super easy for me to migrate away from Proton, but it's the next personal tech project I'll undertake.
platevoltage 10 hours ago | parent
xaksnTMu2 10 hours ago | parent
smsm42 10 hours ago | parent
YmFzZTY0ZGFkZHk 10 hours ago | parent
/s
dofm 10 hours ago | parent
bigstrat2003 6 hours ago | parent
Yes, we do.
> Another year of development and AI is just going to be superior to a human writing code.
I've been hearing that for multiple years now. Why is it true this time when it wasn't in the past?
anonymous908213 11 hours ago | parent
virtualcharles 10 hours ago | parent
SamDc73 10 hours ago | parent
can you elaborate?
meibo 10 hours ago | parent
andrewinardeer 9 hours ago | parent
aesthesia 10 hours ago | parent
bunderbunder 9 hours ago | parent
andrewinardeer 9 hours ago | parent
josefritzishere 11 hours ago | parent
k__ 10 hours ago | parent
Any good alternatives?
juliend2 10 hours ago | parent
CircuitSeuss 10 hours ago | parent
The other option is self hosting.
selcuka 9 hours ago | parent
Don't worry, they can vibe code the rest in no time. /s
phyzome 9 hours ago | parent
Email more broadly? I can heartily recommend Fastmail.
I don't really send anything sensitive over email if I can help it. Signal is a much better choice.
ianmarcinkowski 9 hours ago | parent
If the company isn't going to hit revenue targets they might actually need to fire people and this can be a good way to provide cover that devs aren't meeting requirements so they can be fired with cause.
A past company CEO sounded very similar to this internally before they fired 30% of the staff because they didn't have enough money.
My current vibe reading on CEOs who think every job can be done with AI today is the athlete who starts celebrating before crossing the finish line, to be passed bysomeone who takes the win. My guys, it's not that good yet!
28304283409234 10 hours ago | parent
steve_adams_86 10 hours ago | parent
edit: stating this based off of the linked post, but will read the article linked in the post as well.
edit edit: Okay, yeah. This seems like an awful place to work.
meibo 10 hours ago | parent
lifeisloving 10 hours ago | parent
They're sheep being herded by tech billionaires, who've gotten them to think they're pets and that they definately won't slaughter the second they're hungry.
timmytokyo 9 hours ago | parent
steve_adams_86 8 hours ago | parent
steve_adams_86 8 hours ago | parent
I also only read the initial post and not the entire 404 article. I suppose if I could edit my comment and have it maintain some posterity, I'd say something like "going all-in on AI doesn't make you evil", but I concede that these guys could certainly be assholes if there's more to it (I'll read the nested article).
CamperBob2 10 hours ago | parent
lifeisloving 10 hours ago | parent
I see a ton of examples of companies overusing AI and destroying their brand/image and products, but not many who abstained and are hurting. Using AI does not give you automatic wins, and using it solely because its available does not make you competent.
ehnto 6 hours ago | parent
There's heaps of companies between small and conglomerate and the middle area is where the commodity asset companies lived. Generating low stakes copy, art, apps and websites for small companies.
lifeisloving 5 hours ago | parent
selcuka 9 hours ago | parent
ehnto 8 hours ago | parent
phyzome 10 hours ago | parent
cyanydeez 10 hours ago | parent
idle_zealot 10 hours ago | parent
phyzome 9 hours ago | parent
https://www.404media.co/proton-to-re-interview-staff-about-a...
- Praising the Republican Party and endorsing a Trump appointee.
- Andy choosing a username with 88 in it (a common Nazi dogwhistle) but then claiming it had a different meaning.
- Sponsoring a far-right French YouTuber and claiming they had no idea.
Again, nothing hard and fast. But it meant I was not at all surprised to find out how fucked up the company is on the inside.
NewJazz 5 hours ago | parent
And don't they sponsor like a crap ton of youtubers?
pron 10 hours ago | parent
smt88 10 hours ago | parent
PaulDavisThe1st 10 hours ago | parent
cyanydeez 10 hours ago | parent
esseph 9 hours ago | parent
ranger_danger 9 hours ago | parent
Damn, my check must've gotten lost in the mail.
smt88 2 hours ago | parent
jjav 2 hours ago | parent
For a very brief period, and then when the really big money started rolling in, all the personalities that used to flock to wall street became programmers.
The Silicon Valley of the 90s was completely different to the thing it is now here.
seattle_spring 10 hours ago | parent
incompatible 10 hours ago | parent
rexpop 10 hours ago | parent
What a jerk. I agree that security doesn't have to be given time—like all software, implementation takes the time it takes.
But he doesn't have to be such an asshole about it. In my book, there's nothing more representative of "loser thinking" than casting petulant aspersions like "loser thinking."
dragondev22 10 hours ago | parent
skinfaxi 10 hours ago | parent
jmspring 10 hours ago | parent
sublinear 6 hours ago | parent
slopinthebag 10 hours ago | parent
ls612 10 hours ago | parent
rationalist 10 hours ago | parent
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Just like other advances in technology have replaced jobs, AI will replace jobs.
I'm sure the elevator opperators lamented push-button controls that anyone could just press too.
It sucks, but I imagine most programmers are smart enough to be able to pivot careers or how they do their jobs.
ls612 10 hours ago | parent
rationalist 10 hours ago | parent
That will probably be true.
abejfehr 8 hours ago | parent
ls612 7 hours ago | parent
abejfehr 7 hours ago | parent
upboundspiral 5 hours ago | parent
Since software is in some ways information + machine a near infinite amount can be created. I'm not sure I want to live in that world.
r00t- 10 hours ago | parent
lofties 9 hours ago | parent
I think anyone who has been working around in IT long enough, knows that it is in fact very, very hard to be fast and secure. Even with AI.
SamDc73 10 hours ago | parent
willio58 10 hours ago | parent
This is disgusting, full stop. Destroying any sense of trust in your company by allowing people to rat on others is going to bite them in the ass.
And all for AI, which ultimately is a tool that the largest portion of people already have adopted and those that haven’t often understand it’s the way forward anyway. Like instead of letting your people do this organically, maintaining trust in their org, you poison it instead. And for what? A few extra dollars in the bank? The greed is gross.
Not to mention the loss of customers/potential customers. I always thought proton was one of the good companies. That’s out the window with this news.
mshish 9 hours ago | parent
defgeneric 9 hours ago | parent
timmytokyo 9 hours ago | parent
"This will be the last year that we hire engineers, and starting next year we hire what we used to call product managers, to build things with AI."
By the way, this is where the industry would like to go. Pay attention, people.
defgeneric 7 hours ago | parent
I think we all know the game has changed. The question would be whether the CEO is handling that effectively. On that score I don't think he is. It sounds like a slow-moving mutiny is going on, and to have it blow up in the press means you've already failed.
bigstrat2003 6 hours ago | parent
We do not all know anything of the sort. From my perspective, the game hasn't changed at all, and it's just a bunch of people hyping up a bubble who think it has.
ehnto 6 hours ago | parent
In a sense, you're demoting your managers to implementors, and getting rid of their leadership role altogether. Simultaneously getting rid of your prior engineers and all the domain and tribal knowledge they had built up.
phyzome 9 hours ago | parent
defgeneric 9 hours ago | parent
I'm not sure he's wrong. I'm speculating here but I can imagine the kind of developers Proton attracts--likely people who care a lot about the code and who care about the craft. That's fine, but when you're running a company in this environment, and that's what things look like internally, you do have to be a little brutal to shake people out of old ways. A manifesto titled "Your old job is gone" may actually be warranted.
It sounds a lot like there are people internally who are still fighting the shift, and they've taken to leaking things that hurt the company's security image. Part of the CEO's job, if he's going to push hard in the direction he's decided on, is to fire those people who will undermine it before they do. That this has all now backfired is entirely on him. Maybe he thought he was "motivating" people by calling them losers, or shaking them out of an outmoded way of thinking about what we do, but none of that matters when you have employees attacking your main selling point and the core image of the company in public.
He's not wrong that he needs to move fast, or that processes need to change, or that the job has changed, but his execution isn't so great.
He'll probably survive just fine though.
phyzome 9 hours ago | parent
defgeneric 7 hours ago | parent
bigstrat2003 6 hours ago | parent
ChrisArchitect 8 hours ago | parent
senorrib 7 hours ago | parent
encrypted_bird 6 hours ago | parent
californical 5 hours ago | parent
nmeagent 6 hours ago | parent
spottedmarley 1 hour ago | parent
orwin 1 hour ago | parent