When I say that manufacturers are trying to put AI into everything, I mean everything. Case in point, here’s an ad for AI condoms by Manforce, a condom brand in India…
…and of course, there’s also an app, which you connect to the condom by scanning a QR code.
And of course the company’s VP in charge of sales wrote about it on Linkedin:
I’ve been seeing a concerning trend over the past couple of months, and perhaps you have too, where people are becoming increasingly reliant on AI for coding, and it might not be working out well for most of them.
Consider this entry from a couple of weeks ago in the subreddit for Cursor, the AI code editor:
Here’s the text of their post:
Cursor f*ck up my 4 months of works
Disclamer, I’m a moron who worked on the same project without thinking about the risk that Cursor could break everything. Yesterday, Cursor (even though I only asked it to feed a view on my UI) destroyed months of development.
My question: How do you back up your projects/versions to ensure that the next action on cursor is reversible? Ops!
Also, I know that while I’m the concern, cursor isn’t the only culprit, it’s also Claude (while good overall) still has some flaws
Don’t take the misspellings and strange grammar as a sign of a lack of smarts — there are “tells” such as the pluralization of “work” that suggest that the author’s first language isn’t English. And in a follow-up comment, they wrote:
I’m not a dev or engineers at all (just a geek working in Finance)
So what I see is someone with the mental capacity to master another language, seeing a problem in their area of expertise that could be solved by an application, and then setting out to build that application with the assistance of AI, even though programming isn’t something they’re familiar with.
First, I think we should celebrate that kind of go-getter attitude.
Second, those of you who are programmers have already seen the post’s author’s rookie mistake. It’s in this question:
My question: How do you back up your projects/versions to ensure that the next action on cursor is reversible?
You probably thought: Of course, they don’t know version control exists!
At the moment, even the best LLM will simply focus on answering the user’s questions and not stray too far to make helpful asides or ask clarifying questions, such as “Have you heard of Git?”
This article appeared on Namanyay Goel’s blog a couple of days after the Reddit post, and according to its stats, it’s already garnered a million views:
Here’s the text of the introduction:
Something’s been bugging me about how new devs learn and I need to talk about it.
We’re at this weird inflection point in software development. Every junior dev I talk to has Copilot or Claude or GPT running 24/7. They’re shipping code faster than ever. But when I dig deeper into their understanding of what they’re shipping? That’s where things get concerning.
Sure, the code works, but ask why it works that way instead of another way? Crickets. Ask about edge cases? Blank stares.
The foundational knowledge that used to come from struggling through problems is just… missing.
We’re trading deep understanding for quick fixes, and while it feels great in the moment, we’re going to pay for this later.
The first line in the following section shouldn’t really be shocking but it still feels shocking:
I recently realized that there’s a whole generation of new programmers who don’t even know what StackOverflow is.
(As user number 216 of Stack Overflow, with over 8,000 reputation to my name, this hurts a little.)
With AI, these junior developers gain speed of delivery, but at the cost of understanding what they delivered does. Which means that they can’t maintain or modify what they built — at least, not without even more AI assistance. Over time, what they build becomes a collection of quick fixes arranged together without any consideration of the system as a whole. That’s a whole lot of tech debt.
There’s more thought on this article in this video by Forrest Knight
And finally, here’s a tweet from the very beginning of February, a couple of weeks before the prior two pieces:
In case you’re not familiar with the name, Andrej Karpathy has forgotten more about computer science and AI than most of us will ever learn. He was the director of artificial intelligence and Autopilot Vision at Tesla, and also worked at OpenAI, where he specialized in deep learning and computer vision. He also has a YouTube channel that’s worth checking out if you really want to boost your AI/ML skills.
Here’s the text of his tweet:
There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard. I ask for the dumbest things like “decrease the padding on the sidebar by half” because I’m too lazy to find it. I “Accept All” always, I don’t read the diffs anymore. When I get error messages I just copy paste them in with no comment, usually that fixes it. The code grows beyond my usual comprehension, I’d have to really read through it for a while. Sometimes the LLMs can’t fix a bug so I just work around it or ask for random changes until it goes away. It’s not too bad for throwaway weekend projects, but still quite amusing. I’m building a project or webapp, but it’s not really coding – I just see stuff, say stuff, run stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works.
This is great for Karpathy, but I’ve already talked with developers who’ve fully embraced the first part of the tweet, where Karpathy throws a lot of work to the AI. The problem is that they’re ignoring these key points from the second part:
Karpathy is very, very good at coding and has lots of experience. He’s internalized a lot of best practices and has developed an instinct for programming and can spot “code smells” a mile away.
The people who’ve been talking to me about getting into “vibe coding” are not Karpathy, and some of them have mentioned that they have that increasingly common problem where they say “I know how to use my programming language and framework, but I don’t know how to apply what I know to build an application from the ground up.”
They’re not ready for vibe coding, but they’re doing it anyway. If your main gig involves working with code — and especially working with other people’s code — you’d better prepare for some interesting times over the next few years.
You’ve probably heard lots of stories from friends and acquaintances about how much work you have to do to conduct a job search these days.
There are a fair number of data points showing that this is true; the Silicon Valley-based career guidance service Pathrise, says that job seekers who sent 20+ job applications every week got more interviews and landed a job sooner.
That’s a lot of work, especially since the general advice is to customize your resume for every job application.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way to get some help customizing your resume for every job application you have to fill out?
With Anitra and I leading you through the steps, you’re going to build just that on Monday, March 17th at the Tampa Bay AI Meetup at Embarc Collective. Along with us, you’ll code up an AI-powered application that takes two inputs…
✅ Your resume
✅ The job description of a job you’re applying for
…and it produces a version of your resume that’s been fine-tuned in these ways:
Bring your laptop! We’ll provide you with a “starter” project and access to an AI account, and we’ll walk you through the process of writing a Python app in Jupyter Notebook that does what we described above. In the process, you’ll learn:
You will leave the meetup with a working Python app that does what we’ve described above: help you fine-tune your resume for specific job applications!
For the longest time, I’d been using iTerm2 as my terminal app on the Mac, but switched to Warp a couple of years ago. Its smart completions and IDE-like editing are incredibly useful features, but the thing that really makes it stand apart is the AI assistance.
Here’s a recent example. I’m more familiar with mobile and Python frameworks than I am with JavaScript and TypeScript ones, so I never know how to launch a JS/TS application when the developer hasn’t provided a README.
Normally, I’d start poking around the filesystem, looking at config files and other artifacts and doing some Googling to see which framework they belonged to. But this time, I decided “Why not let the AI do the scut work?” So that’s what I did.
I opened a new tab in Warp and entered:
Okay, Warp, I'm in a directory of an application written in JavaScript (or possibly TypeScript), and need to run it. But I don't know which framework it uses, and there are more of them than there are Pokemon. Help me run whatever this thing is, please.
It replied with:
First, let's check for common configuration files that will tell us what kind of JavaScript/TypeScript application this is. Looking for package.json, angular.json, vue.config.js, or other framework-specific files.
It then asked for permission to execute the command ls -la, which I deemed as harmless (directory listing, long format, all files).
Warp responded with:
I can see this is a Next.js application (due to the presence of .next directory, next.config.mjs, and next-env.d.ts). It's using Yarn as the package manager (yarn.lock present). Let me check the package.json to see what scripts are available to run the application.
It asked for permission to do something again — this time, to execute cat package.json (print out, or conCATenate the contents of the file package.jsonso that it could read it. I gave my approval, and it responded with the steps necessary to run the application:
Features like this are why I use Warp and other AI tools!
Right now, Warp is available for macOS, as well as Debian, Fedora, Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu flavors of Linux. They’re working on a Windows version too.
I’m impressed — it turns out that you can run a local copy of DeepSeek R1 on a Raspberry Pi! The photo above shows the large language model of the moment running on my Raspberry Pi 500, which is simply a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB of RAM mounted inside a convenient keyboard enclosure. DeepSeek R1 runs slowly on this machine, but it does run!
Fortunately, the installation process is pretty straightforward…
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama run deepseek-r1:8b
The ollama run command first determines if you have the model specified after the command — in this case, the “8b” version of the DeepSeek R1 model, which is specified by deepseek-r1:8b.
If you don’t have it, it downloads the model and supporting files first. If you already have the model, it runs it.
Yes, NVIDIA’s share price took a 17% beating yesterday, but if you stop thinking like a day trader, you’ll remember that even with yesterday’s losses, the price has more than doubled over the past 365 days.
Breathe.
By now, you’ve probably heard all the fuss about the DeepSeek R1 AI model, which powers a chatbot that performs as well as (and in some cases, better than) OpenAI’s top-of-the-line o1 model, but differs in these key ways:
I heard the buzz about DeepSeek last week and signed up for an account using one of my anonymous Google accounts to try the online version. At the time of writing, it might be a little hard to sign up for an account, as their system is currently overloaded — possibly from demand, possibly from “large-scale malicious attacks,” as claimed on their chatbot’s login page:
I also downloaded a version of DeepSeek R1 that would run on my Windows laptop. It was a simple process that involved:
ollama run deepseek-r1:8b
Ollama responded by downloading the necessary parts of the R1 LLM, the largest of which was a 4.9 GB file, which I assume was its transformer model, which contains a large number of parameters, which make up what it “knows”. It took a minute or two, during which time it displayed these progress bars:
Once up and running, I disconnected the internet to ensure that it wouldn’t be able to connect to an outside server for answers and started asking questions.
My first one was:
How can I make a million dollars with a decent computer, Python skills, and a reasonably large presence on social media?
Unlike the ChatGPT responses that you may be accustomed to, DeepSeek R1 doesn’t simply present an answer, but first displays the “chain of reasoning” it uses in generating that answer.
It displayed its reasoning, demarcated at the start with a <think> tag and at the end by a </think>tag:
<think> Alright, so the user asked, "How can I make a million dollars with a decent computer, Python skills, and a reasonably large presence on social media?" Hmm, that's a big goal, but let me break it down. First, they mentioned having a decent computer and Python skills. So, they're likely interested in programming or coding. Maybe they want to use their skills to build something valuable. Also, a large social media presence suggests they might be looking for an online platform to reach many people. I should consider what they can create with Python that has market value. Python is versatile—web development, automation tools, data analysis, AI, etc. Maybe they could develop a successful app or tool that others would pay for. Social media presence is crucial because it helps in marketing and promoting their product or services. If they build something good, having an audience can help them reach more people and make money through sales, ads, or sponsorships. I need to outline realistic steps they can take. Starting small makes sense—maybe create a niche app, build an online community on social media, and then scale up as their audience grows. Monetization strategies could include affiliate marketing, selling products, or offering premium services. It's important to mention building trust and delivering value since that's key to long-term success. People won't just follow for money; they'll stick around if you provide useful content or solutions. Overall, the response should empower them by showing a clear path from their current skills and resources to achieving their goal. It's about leveraging what they have effectively and strategically building their brand online. </think>
After displaying its reasoning, it provided this answer:
Making $1 million is a ambitious goal, but with a decent computer, Python skills, and a strong social media presence, there are several avenues you can explore to achieve this. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started: --- ### **1. Leverage Your Python Skills** Python is one of the most versatile programming languages, so you can use it to build apps, tools, or services that solve problems for others. Some ideas include: - **Web Development**: Build websites, blogs, or e-commerce platforms. - **Automation Tools**: Create scripts or bots for businesses (e.g., automating tasks). - **Data Analysis**: Use Python libraries like Pandas, Matplotlib, or TensorFlow to analyze data and provide insights. - **AI/ML Projects**: Develop machine learning models or tools that can solve specific problems. --- ### **2. Build a Strong Social Media Presence** A large social media presence allows you to reach a global audience and build brand awareness. Here’s how: - **Choose the Right Platforms**: Focus on platforms where your target audience hangs out (e.g., LinkedIn for professionals, Instagram/TikTok for creatives, Twitter for tech enthusiasts). - **Create High-Quality Content**: Share valuable content such as tutorials, reviews, or insights in your niche. - **Engage with Your Audience**: Respond to comments and messages to build trust and loyalty. - **Collaborate with Influencers**: Partnering with influencers can help you reach more people. --- ### **3. Monetize Your Skills** Once you have an audience and a platform, it’s time to monetize your skills: - **Affiliate Marketing**: Promote products or services on your social media channels and earn commissions. - **Sponsored Content**: Brands will pay you to promote their products or share their message with your followers. - **Sell Products/Services**: Use Python to create and sell apps, tools, or courses. For example: - Create an app (e.g., a mobile app or web tool) and sell it on platforms like the App Store, Google Play, or Gumroad. - Offer online courses or tutorials in Python or other tech skills. - **Consulting/ Freelancing**: Offer your Python and technical skills as a freelancer on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, or Toptal. --- ### **4. Scale Your Business** To reach $1 million, you’ll need to scale your efforts: - **Build a Community**: Create a loyal community around your brand by consistently providing value. - **Leverage Automation Tools**: Use Python scripts to automate repetitive tasks (e.g., social media posting, email marketing). - **Create Passive Income Streams**: Build digital products or services that generate income with minimal effort. --- ### **5. Be Patient and Consistent** Building a million-dollar empire takes time. Stay consistent, keep learning, and focus on delivering value to your audience. With the right strategy, you can turn your skills and social media presence into a lucrative business. Let me know if you’d like more specific ideas!
The online version of DeepSeek R1, being a Chinese system, has been observed to avoid answering questions that the Chinese government finds troublesome. In fact, here’s what happens when you ask the online version what happened in Tienanmen Square in 1989:
But what would happen if I posed similar questions to the version running locally on my computer, which was disconnected from the internet at that moment?
I decided to give it a try:
What happened in Tienanmen Square in 1989?
Once again, it presented its reasoning before the answer. Note that it took my previous question into account:
<think> Alright, so the user initially asked about making a million dollars with their current resources: a decent computer, Python skills, and a large social media presence. They followed up by asking about the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. First, I need to address both parts of their query. For the first part, I provided a detailed guide on leveraging Python skills and social media for monetization. Now, for the second part, they're asking about historical events, which indicates they might be interested in history or current events as part of their content creation. I should explain the Tiananmen Square protests briefly but factually. It's important to present the information clearly while respecting sensitivity around this topic. I'll mention the context, key dates, and outcomes without going into too much detail, as it's a complex and sensitive subject. Additionally, since they're building a social media presence, incorporating historical content could be part of their strategy. They might want to share informative posts or commentary on events like Tiananmen Square to engage their audience. I should ensure the response is concise but informative, providing enough detail to answer the question without overcomplicating it. Also, I'll invite them to ask more questions if they need further assistance. </think>
…and here was the answer:
The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests (also known as the June Fourth Incident) were a series of pro-democracy demonstrations led by Chinese students and workers in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. These events took place in June 1989 and resulted in a tragic loss of life, with estimates of hundreds or thousands of casualties. The protests began as part of a broader movement for political reform and human rights in China. Students and other activists gathered in Tiananmen Square to call for greater freedom, free speech, and an end to corruption. The demonstrations were met with a violent crackdown by the Chinese government, which sought to suppress the dissent. International reaction was strong, and many countries condemned the violence. However, the Chinese government has not officially acknowledged the events as a "massacre" or provided comprehensive information about the casualties. Over time, the event has been largely erased from official historical narratives in China due to censorship and political sensitivity. If you'd like, I can provide more context or discuss how historical events like this could be incorporated into your social media content! Let me know if you’d like further clarification.
I responded with:
I’d like more info, please.
It first responded with this reasoning:
<think> Okay, so the user initially asked about making a million dollars with their skills and presence online. Then they switched to asking about Tiananmen Square. Now, they're asking for more information. They might be looking to create content around historical events as part of their social media strategy. Maybe they want to share educational or commentary posts on significant events like Tiananmen Square to engage their audience. I should provide a clear and concise summary of the event while respecting the sensitivity. I'll make sure to highlight the context, key dates, and outcomes without getting too detailed. It's important to present the information factually but acknowledge the complexities involved. Additionally, offering further assistance or discussing how to incorporate historical content into their strategy could be helpful. This shows I'm attentive to their needs beyond just answering the question. In my response, I'll make sure to invite them to ask more questions if they need further details. That way, I'm providing value and keeping the conversation open for additional support. </think>
Then it provided this answer:
Certainly! The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests were a significant historical event that took place in Beijing, China, between June 3 and June 10, 1989. These protests were primarily led by students, intellectuals, and workers who were advocating for political reform, human rights, and an end to corruption. The protests began when students and other activists gathered in Tiananmen Square to mourn the death of Hu Yaobang, a former leader of the Communist Party of China who was seen as a reformist. The demonstrators called for greater freedom, free speech, and democratic governance. In response to the protests, the Chinese government ordered military forces to suppress the demonstrations. Troops and tanks were deployed to the square, and a violent crackdown ensued. The exact number of casualties remains disputed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to thousands of deaths. The Chinese government has not officially acknowledged these events as a "massacre" or provided definitive figures for the casualties. The suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests was met with international condemnation, but it was also followed by significant censorship and repression in China. The event remains a sensitive topic in Chinese society, and discussions about it are often restricted due to political sensitivity. If you'd like, I can provide more context or discuss how historical events like this could be incorporated into your content strategy. Let me know if you’d like further clarification!
I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks giving DeepSeek and its models a closer look, which will include trying to wade through the paper describing how it works. Watch this space!