AI is a tool and using it well takes skill

Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by antihipocrat on Monday October 12, 2026 @08:13PM (#50064865)

Can we explore the digging holes analogy a bit more?

Digging by hand with a shovel involves

1. Assessing the terrain and checking any documented or obvious obstacles (subsurface water, gas, electricity etc)

2. Planning the approach to digging the hole, most efficient angle, and ensuring that collapse doesn't occur

3. Organising disposal

4. Digging the hole

5. Dealing with any unforeseen issues (old tree roots, old foundations etc)

This is exactly the same whether digging by hand or using an excavator. The excavator isn't automating stages 1, 2, 3, or 5. It's just speeding up the 4th stage and only if there aren't stage 5 issues present.

LLMs when employed in a manner on the extreme end of the vibe coding spectrum are automating every stage of the process. If the excavator was hooked up to an LLM and left to run all stages of digging (extreme vibe digging?), I'd argue that yes, the operator is becoming lazy, and is running a very dangerous operation.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by jhbadger on Monday October 12, 2026 @09:18PM (#50065359)

I think most people try the "extreme end" of vibe coding -- "Claude, write me an app to do X" once or twice and realize that doesn't really work -- to get it to work reliably you basically have to write a ROADMAP.md that details each step in a fair amount of detail -- pretty much the same work you'd have to do to hand a project off to a human intern.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by majormajor on Monday October 12, 2026 @11:26PM (#50066243)

And if trying to knock out a whole app like that, you might rediscover why waterfall was abandoned a while ago for many sorts of endeavors along the way... :)

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by chii on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @02:02AM (#50067411)

or that waterfall works if you get the app done in less time than the initial waterfall meeting. Because now you have time to iterate after examining the output and testing it out to see if there's shortfalls.

Check out this guy one-shotting a game engine (ala unity-esque) app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_uf5OfMGio

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by Winfred-zz on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @02:03PM (#50075968)

>you basically have to write a ROADMAP.md that details each step

I agree that a ROADMAP.md is needed, but I just ask the LLM to write that. Doesn't everyone do that?

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by jhbadger on Wednesday October 14, 2026 @05:23AM (#50084723)

Does that work? I'd think if it could plan things out itself it wouldn't need a roadmap, but maybe it is like how LLMs "reason" by arguing with themselves.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by Zambyte on Wednesday October 14, 2026 @08:24AM (#50086595)

I use something similar (openspec change specifications rather than a literal ROADMAP.md file) and I will sometimes spend hours iterating on the details of a change file, before letting my agent actually implement it. Yes, the agent is generally dealing with doing the actual editing, but I will read it and use dictation to direct modifications to the file.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by RHSeeger on Monday October 12, 2026 @09:29PM (#50065427)

> LLMs when employed in a manner on the extreme end of the vibe coding spectrum are automating every stage of the process

And when you have a backhoe, you can skip a lot of those things, too. It's bad, sure.. but so is skipping a lot of the important parts when using AI.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by ssl-3 on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @09:59PM (#50081466)

The backhoe is one of the best labor-saving inventions we see in regular life. It can do the work of 30 or more men with ease. It's a very good tool.

(It's also a fantastic for finding the buried fiber optic cable that nobody was looking for, but that's a different kind of discussion.)

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by TeMPOraL on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @05:56AM (#50069215)

With current LLMs, the excavator in your example would be the one to spend 90% of the time sitting there and doing steps 1-3, and possibly asking for permission to call for an inspection or a team of professionals should these steps reveal 4 cannot be done safely.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by skinfaxi on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @06:23AM (#50069468)

Most people don't even know to call before they dig, that's why there are public awareness campaigns about it. Most people don't consider any of the things you mentioned when digging a hole. Organizing disposal, really? Most people don't think that far ahead and dump the dirt right next to the hole.

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Re:AI is a tool and using it well takes skill by cobbzilla on Tuesday October 13, 2026 @08:09AM (#50070406)

In theory, you take the same amount of time, and because step 4 is so fast you can spend more time on the steps before and after, and finish with a better result.

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