Didn't know that one yet. But it hits the nail on the head. As I already experienced.

LLMs like Claude can greatly accelerate a coding project, but they can also take away from learning. I often find my projects involve learning multiple new skill/tools. So I make limited use of AI for what I want to learn, but use it heavily for other tasks. For example, I wanted to learn RAG, Llama Index, etc, so I didn't heavily use Claude for that, but I DID use it to wrap it in Gradio for a nice user interface. #LLM #AI

Building on the RAG course I took, and with some help from Claude, I've got a tax chatbot running locally on my PC with a nice, web-based interface. Granted, running on my home PC, it takes several minutes to answer a question, but it's taking far less water and electricity than ChatGPT and its like.
Next up: a chat interface for our HOA covenants, bylaws, and architectural guidelines...

Free read: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/the-neighbors-defending-minnesota-from-ice/685769/?gift=42dxIJTByrj6nojaIAIcVoabSXN6DAzqw21BzubwRtg

@mattblaze @mastodonmigration Nationalization no. Scale up intimidation? With over 30,000 CBP agents, over 20,000 border patrol agents, and over 20,000 ICE agents to draw from, I say he has enough to launch intimidation in key districts and precincts. Public violation of the law is what we are already observing every day.

A proposed class-action settlement with Google over their “real-time bidding” system is a step in the right direction to give people more control over their data. But truly curbing the harms of surveillance-based advertising will require stronger legislative protections. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/google-settlement-may-bring-new-privacy-controls-real-time-bidding

Stop saying that the link between autism and vaccines is "unproven". It is discredited. It is disproven. Disproven and unproven are not the same thing.

#WordsMatter #Journalism

Free read: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/the-neighbors-defending-minnesota-from-ice/685769/?gift=42dxIJTByrj6nojaIAIcVoabSXN6DAzqw21BzubwRtg

@BorisBarbour @petergleick
Billy Bragg has released a song too. Apologies if that's what you were referring to!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKOW2ZikGW8

Whoa.
Bruce Springsteen's new "The Streets of Minneapolis"

"Their claim was defensive, sir
Just don't believe your eyes.
It's our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem's dirty lies."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKSoxG1K7w&t=3s

@mrjunge If you have to spend almost as much time, or more, cleaning up an LLM-assisted product as you originally saved, I agree. LLM's can certainly generate spam or spam-like output at times. But to claim that that's ALL it does is not correct. One company found that initially, their software code writing gains were eaten up by quality control rework, but that after learning how to better use the tools, when to use them, and when not to use them, production went up 30% with no loss of quality.

I really like the new mayor of NYC.

Masha Gessen. It needs to be said, and it needs to be felt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/18/opinion/trump-one-year-later.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FlA.crde.7jYvifcOp0Zu&smid=url-share (2/2)

“We have become a country where people are disappeared by a paramilitary force that hunts them down in their apartments, on city streets and country roads.”

"We have become a country where a person can be summarily executed in public for protesting that paramilitary force.”

"We have become a country whose federal government deploys military and paramilitary forces in the streets of its major cities, terrorizing the residents in the guise of protecting them.” (1/2)

@VictimOfSimony I'd been following him for some time, because yes, I agree that he is entertaining. And I'm a fan of his Laundry File fiction.

@VictimOfSimony Well, I won't know what @cstross thinks, as he apparently has blocked me from pushing back on his hyperbole.

@mistersql How do you see how many views a Facebook post has gotten?

@leadegroot @dragonfrog @ThePowerNap
I can certainly see a bubble bursting, but I'm not sure that Phind is a sign. Hard to compete with those with billions to develop core models, and not going to hit any profit home runs reselling access to other's models.

@davidgerard I read both the article and the referenced paper that you cited. The paper that I provided DOES use pull requests as the key metric, but looks at others as well, including code quality. The Stanford study that I provided explicitly does NOT use pull requests as the productivity metric. I take it you didn't watch the video? And the Stanford study is far larger and more comprehensive than the one you cited.

A very interesting, nuanced Stanford study of the productivity effects of using AI in software development. Measured results, not self-assessments, and nuanced in looking into the factors that help determine where it is and is not most effective: https://lnkd.in/essiTP2Q

Caveat: it does not appear to have yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal. #AI #softwaredevelopment