AI and my projects

[exxos]

AI and my projects - said once, so I don't have to keep saying it

I've mentioned this on the forum plenty of times over the years, but it's been on my mind for the past few weeks what to do about it all, so it seems worth putting in one place so there's no confusion.

These days pretty much everything I work on uses AI for something. That could be code, firmware, debugging, documentation, test programs, web pages or just untangling a problem I've been stuck on. It's also things like searching for parts and part numbers and checking whether they're actually in stock. That job is incredibly tedious, and after doing it over and over for literally years, I simply despise it. I now use AI for it almost every single time. The design decisions, the hardware, the testing on real machines and the responsibility for the end result are still mine. If something doesn't work, that's on me, not the tools.

Going forward, I'm not going to label every project, post or release with "AI was used here". Just assume it was, because it almost certainly was. If that upsets anyone, then I apologise, but I'm not going to change how I work because of it.

I'm saying this partly because earlier this year a release of mine got picked up on an Atari scene site, and someone insisted it should carry an AI disclaimer. That ended up costing me the best part of a day sorting it out with the site owner, for something I had never hidden in the first place. The next day I asked myself why I even cared. Frankly, I don't anymore. I don't feel I owe anyone an explanation for what tools I use, any more than I'd explain which brand of soldering iron I used.

I'm already doing the work of about 20 people as it is. Trying to keep track of every little thing AI has or hasn't touched, and remembering to declare this or that to keep people happy, is just wasted time in my opinion. I have better things to do with my time.

A good example is GB7. It had effectively been shelved because of a double screen refresh bug, which would have taken an enormous amount of time to track down manually through all the code. Honestly, I couldn't face it. AI found the problem and fixed it. Without that, GB7 would most likely still be sitting on the shelf. But I'm not going to start logging every bug fix, line of code or tweak AI was involved in. That really would be a waste of everyone's time, mine included.

Why AI?

As I've said for years, I have far more work than one person can keep on top of. The store, the forum, the server, hardware development, firmware, support, the wiki and everything in between. I also have RSI, and AI takes a significant amount of the typing and repetitive work off my hands. That alone makes it a big win for me.

The other reason is simply that the community is small. Over the years I've asked for help on a lot of things, sometimes for literally years, and much of the time the answer was silence. That isn't a dig at anyone. Some people do help, and that has always been very much appreciated, and you know who you are. But the reality is that most of my questions and requests for help have gone unanswered. AI fills that gap. Without it, a lot of what I've released recently simply wouldn't exist, or would still be sitting on the bench half finished.

The Atari Music Network articles are a perfect example. I'd been asking for help with those for literally years, and nobody wanted the job. Recently around 40 articles were completely recovered, rebuilt, updated to a proper format and layout, and posted on the forum one a day. No doubt many of you saw them appear. AI did the recovery and the rebuilding, and even wrote the script that posted them on the forum. My part was detailing what needed doing, instructing it, and checking and verifying everything before it went live.

So AI is doing the jobs nobody else wanted to do. If anyone feels the need to complain about that, I'd gently point out that I don't really see why I should have to justify how a job got done when there was nobody else interested in doing it in the first place. I'd much rather spend my time getting things finished and into people's hands than defending how they were made.

Looking at other forums, this whole "was AI used?" debate is only going to get bigger as AI becomes part of everyday tools. Before long it will be in pretty much everything, and demanding a declaration on every project will make about as much sense as asking which compiler or text editor someone used. I'd rather not spend my time going round in circles on it, so this post is my answer, now and in the future.

[dad664npc]

Good on ya Chris! I can't be bothered with one other Atari Forum now as they have gone annal on AI. I echo your sentiment that AI is a tool. I could not have made the PiSTorm JIT advances without it. I also sympathise with your cry for help, I too have been there and feel for you. Good luck with your AI endeavours.

[Darklord]

A logical, no-nonsense approach, IMHO.

[prog99]

Never seen much in your output to offend.
Sadly theres a fair degree of poorly tested shovelware appearing recently which has poked the bear so to speak.

[exxos]

Good on ya Chris! I can't be bothered with one other Atari Forum now as they have gone annal on AI. I echo your sentiment that AI is a tool. I could not have made the PiSTorm JIT advances without it. I also sympathise with your cry for help, I too have been there and feel for you. Good luck with your AI endeavours.

And you're definitely making excellent progress with it as well !

I think possibly if we was a absolutely massive community then my opinion may be slightly different but the Atari scene is just so near non-existent these days anyway.. I don't think we all should start getting into "arguments" about if AI is used or not. I do understand all the pros and cons of it all but I think we all have better things to do at the end of the day.

None of those are exactly getting any younger. If I was in my 20s I would think nothing about spending the next 10 years learning assembly language or something like that.. As I fast approaching 50, that is basically the last thing on my mind these days.

[exxos]

A logical, no-nonsense approach, IMHO.

Time is precious at the end of the day.. Sucked into the latest Internet debate and then the next one after that is just taking away more important things to be done. The Internet can argue about it all they want.

[exxos]

Never seen much in your output to offend.
Sadly theres a fair degree of poorly tested shovelware appearing recently which has poked the bear so to speak.

Yeah that's the problem. How much testing all these software's have at the end of the day and how long they will be supported for and who you report bugs to etc is another huge problem.

I mean if you click on the tools icon in the bar at the top of the forum those are all tools which are created with AI. The server would not even be online if it wasn't for AI. Similar with my web store which AI fixed recently. And said earlier elsewhere, AI is now fixing the wiki. I'm just one person at the end of the day and just do not have the time to work for absolutely everything on my own.

I mean if people complained about using AI to fix the server we have really lost the plot at that point. If it wasn't for AI fixing the server then they would not have a platform to complain on anyway..