From different perspectives

Depending on the platform and audience, discussions around AI can be pretty heated. I probably don’t have to tell you that.

But there is one particular thing about this whole back and forth that makes it really complicated but also quite predictable to be happening.

Matt summarized this very well in his post:

Its unsurprising AI is so divisive on Bluesky. We're at an intersection of devs – for whom Claude is a useful tool used by most – creatives and artists where AI is bad and damaging, and blue wave who just see it as sama and grok. We're arguing about different things from very different perspectives.

That’s exactly it! If you read a discussion with this thought in the back of your mind, two arguing people can be right (from their perspective) at the same time. Or at least their standpoint is understandable.

I’m a dev myself. So I consider myself lucky to get to experience what I’d say is the first truly helpful use case for LLMs in the broader economy. I think anyone who has tried the recent models, particularly Opus 4.6 in Claude Code, can’t deny the value it provides. Even if you’re still writing all your code by hand, Claude can still help you by surfacing bugs you probably wouldn’t have caught or serving as a brainstorming partner that is always available.

Sometimes I wonder if the discussions were similar back when compilers were first introduced and people weren’t forced to write in Assembly anymore. Of course this example is a bit flawed since it doesn’t touch on the ethical concerns. But from a dev only perspective, I find it interesting to think about.

But I also want to mention that, while being a fan of using Claude Code for development, I can still find the trend of just vibe coding something without understanding anything and then hosting (and probably exposing) sensitive user data highly problematic.

Current AI tools become more powerful by the day but in the end, they are still tools that should be used responsibly by someone who is experienced enough to use them. You also wouldn’t recommend using a chainsaw to everyone.

Another thing I want to add for nuance is that I’m still very glad that I was able to learn programming back when LLMs weren’t a thing. Again, if you’re a responsible smart person and start learning to code today, you’ll probably be a better programmer faster. On the other hand (I see this myself in some university lectures), many people who are just getting started are simply handing over their whole thinking to the machine and I’m not sure how it’s gonna work out for them when they enter the industry.

This whole discussion is, as always, more a symptom of online discussion culture than anything else.

We have to be able to tolerate ambiguity around such polarizing topics as AI.

Peter worded it well:

i think ai is a dangerous technology that has ethically problematic origins, can amplify our worst traits, & will be exploited by greedy people, but nonetheless is here to stay, holds great potential for good, & needs people of wisdom & creativity to mold it toward human thriving

I have a hunch that most people have a balanced opinion like this. It’s just that the most vocal people are often the people at either end of the spectrum that skew the public perception.

The right thing to do right now is, in my opinion, the following:

Not wasting your time in online discussions, it’s not worth it. Maybe one (thoughtful and non-aggressive!) reply is ok but a back and forth over hours will not help anyone and only solidify existing beliefs.

Lead by positive example. As a dev, that could mean building truly well-crafted products that your users love, with or without AI. As an artist, that could mean showing how beautiful and unique human-made art is. So many possibilities.

Much of this situation reminds me of what it's like being a vegetarian. I've been one for a couple of years and I haven't even once argued with someone who eats meat. Of course I would prefer if they didn’t, but I also know that arguing won’t help the cause. A way more powerful thing to do instead is inviting people over to dinner, cooking vegetarian and showing them that not eating meat is very tasty too¹.

Show, don’t tell, should be the mantra.