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   Janneke (janneke@todon.nl)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Apr-2026 16:39:58 JST Janneke

   I'v been reading this term "AI Engineer" a lot lately.

   Anyone have any idea what it could mean?

   (e.g., has an artificial intelligence actually been realized yet? I cannot seem to find anything about it. How does one engineer (on) something that doesn't exist? "AI researcher" could possibly make some sense to me. And don't get me going on what "engineering" implies. I'm already sceptical about the concept of "Software Engineer".).

   • Embed this notice
     Janneke (janneke@todon.nl)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Apr-2026 16:56:04 JST Janneke

     in reply to

     • Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     @ekaitz_zarraga
     The Dutch "ingenieur" (ir) degree also comprised ethics.

     In my view, that could very well mean: Don't write/contribute to proprietary code. Some seem to take their ethics vow all that seriously.

   • Embed this notice
     Ekaitz Zarraga 👹 (ekaitz_zarraga@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 22-Apr-2026 16:56:05 JST Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     in reply to

     @janneke I am also very skeptical about the concept "Software engineer". For the USAmericans "engineer" is a position in a job, not a set of studies, knowledge, mindset and so on. That distorts things a lot.

     In my language (spanish) engineer is "ingeniero" which comes from "ingenio" (wit), not from "engine" like in english... That might explain our difference on thought and approach.

   • Embed this notice
     Janneke (janneke@todon.nl)'s status on Thursday, 23-Apr-2026 05:18:00 JST Janneke

     in reply to

     • Andy Wootton

     @woo
     The fact that if you're lucky some results may look impressive doesn't imply intelligence.

     Very few humans would want to protect a cabbage from a wolf, or walk their car to the car wash. And the ones that do, well...

   • Embed this notice
     Andy Wootton (woo@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 23-Apr-2026 05:18:01 JST Andy Wootton

     in reply to

     @janneke John McCarthy's original definition of AI wasn't very ambitious, so yes, we have. Machines can do things that look like a human might have done them.

   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:11 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • Ekaitz Zarraga 👹
     • Andy Wootton
     @woo @ekaitz_zarraga >Proprietary software vendors don't have to be evil.
     >Vendors who explicitly chose to be evil, don't have to be evil.
     What?
   • Embed this notice
     Andy Wootton (woo@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:12 JST Andy Wootton

     in reply to

     • Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     @ekaitz_zarraga @janneke Writing software is unethical?

   • Embed this notice
     Ekaitz Zarraga 👹 (ekaitz_zarraga@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:12 JST Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     in reply to

     • Andy Wootton

     @woo Contributing to something unethical is unethical. Hitting your wife or your kids was the way things were done in the past, that doesn't mean it was ethical then and it isn't now. It has never been.

     I don't think though we have to be very picky or strict with the past. I have written proprietary software and done all sort of unethical things. I just try to do better.

     I don't think we should fall in the "it was normal back then" trap either.

     Idk

   • Embed this notice
     Andy Wootton (woo@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:12 JST Andy Wootton

     in reply to

     • Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     @ekaitz_zarraga You are arguing with something I didn't say. FOSS doesn't have to do good. Proprietary software vendors don't have to be evil.

   • Embed this notice
     Andy Wootton (woo@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:13 JST Andy Wootton

     in reply to

     • Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     @janneke @ekaitz_zarraga When I started coding there was only proprietary code, so I worked on it. Was that unethical? :-)

   • Embed this notice
     Ekaitz Zarraga 👹 (ekaitz_zarraga@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 28-Apr-2026 01:38:13 JST Ekaitz Zarraga 👹

     in reply to

     • Andy Wootton

     @woo @janneke Yes.