Notices by Pavel A. Samsonov (pavelasamsonov@mastodon.social)

Google I/O showed how the industry has seized upon LLMs as the "future" of software. But that couldn't be further from the truth! It is an intensification of the old way. The same features as before, only MORE and FASTER.

It's the same mediocre vision execs have had for 40 years: give customers more tasks to do on your platform, sell them tools to solve the problems you created.

But the conditions that made this business model possible are collapsing.

https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/ai-is-not-the-future-of-software-development-but-the-last-dying-gasp-of-the-past

#AI #LLM #tech

We've gone from the inverted information pyramid to the inverted quality pyramid.

Writers used to start with the most important information, and then taper down to details. But our sustained attention is no longer rewarded with more detail; now it's punished with detail-free slop.

Editors devote all their attention to refining the first few paragraphs. But the further you scroll, the more the initial AI draft shines through. Untouched by human hands, unread by human eyeballs.

Love how every website now has a popup that tells you "our website is hot dogshit, download the app instead"

And then the app is just an Electron wrapper around the same JS they could have put on the website if they didn't hate you personally

You often hear "every app is painful to use these days because they are optimized for business outcomes over user experience."

But that's not actually true! These decisions are ALSO slaughtering the business outcomes.

The real optimization is for product manager promo packets.

On this Palm Sunday, we commemorate our lord and savior Palm III

Job interview process:

-Resume screen
-Recruiter phone call
-Manager phone call
-Design challenge round
-Deadlift round
-Portfolio review round
-Wizard's quest round
-Whiteboarding round
-Spend the night in a haunted mansion
-Panel interview with the entire C-suite
-Org pivot, position abolished

Before you ask a diffusion model to barf up a banner image for your article, please consider searching one of the many existing sources of fine & free media:
• Public Domain Image Archive
• Openverse
• Wellcome Collection
• Digital Bodleian
• Getty Open Content Program
• Wikimedia Commons

#publicdomain #substack

The claim "you won't be replaced by AI, but by a person using AI" is nonsense. The Block layoff victims were some of the most productive, #llm pilled people in the company, but it didn't save them, because that's not what layoffs are about.

The layoff script goes, as always:
- overhire
- lay everyone off
- pretend it's because of #AI productivity gains
- stock go up

There is no individual solution that will protect you from bad leadership and cost cutting.

https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/ai-layoffs-like-block-s-are-a-race-to-the-bottom-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-productivity

#tech

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.

FOSS nerds: the Torment Nexus cannot be ethical until it is Open Source

“AI can make mistakes” might as well be the slogan of our era. Even boosters admit that you need to spin the vibe code slot machine a few times to get a jackpot.

An employee with that degree of consistency would be fired.

So how do we redirect some of that unlimited grace from machines to humans?

https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/corporations-demand-perfection-from-workers-but-ai-gets-unlimited-slack

#UX #UXDesign #LLM #AI #tech #softwaredevelopment

All the same people boosting LLMs today were boosting NFTs five years ago. It's not a coincidence that

AI POWERED

is an anagram of

APE WEIRDO

#agile #scrum #tech #softwaredevelopment #meme #funny

If you're in #tech and struggling to figure out what your career look like now — this piece is my answer. You've heard "it's here to stay" or "it's better than nothing."

Reject these frames.

Look at the system being built around you. Manufacturing validation for "inevitable" success. Rewriting our roles from human-centered creative to feature cheerleader.

Our choices write the future. And you have more choices than "embrace the inevitable" or "quit."

https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/the-incredible-value-of-nothing

#ai #llm #ux

2016: Figma auto-saves your work.

2026: Figma auto-steals your work.

Figma admins, take a look at the setting that Figma silently opted your entire team into, and think about whether the labor of your designers should be handed away for free, just so Figma can turn around and pitch AI powered layout creation to product managers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UXDesign/comments/1pzoqsc/psa_for_figma_admins_this_ai_setting_is_quietly/

#ux #uxdesign #figma

#AI is old news. Innovators must ask themselves: in 2026, how can I supercharge my productivity by incorporating labubus into my process?

"Speak proper English!" is one of the silliest things one could say.

Proper *English*? Of all languages? Come on.

@skinnylatte drop the @

pet peeve: why is it HTTPS, but SFTP? Put the S either at the front or at the back.

Too many people thinking about "AI threats" as "threats from #AI agency" (which is science fiction) and not "threats from human agency used to productize an #LLM in evil ways" which is in the news every day.

Robert's Rules of Order:

A Robert may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

A Robert must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

A Robert must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.