Cal Newport

AI often offers interesting potential to a lot of fields,

But figuring out how to make it economically useful is a complicated effort that requires a lot of focus.

Putting out these sci-fi themed essays about all the doom that's lurking right around the corner might make these AI companies feel important or exceptional, but I'd argue that at the moment they're proving, if you'll excuse the use of an ironic term here, unproductive.

Programming tools are interesting.

They're here to stay, though in their final form and how we use them is still up in the air.

This is a new thing.

But nothing about this new tool's arrival should make you think that somehow AI is going to start improving itself.

I would almost say shame on Anthropic for dropping this report.

No suggestions, no reassurance, no culpability, no responsibility.

Just like, what can we do?

This is not productive.

This is not useful.

If you're wondering, let's just sum this all up.

No, clod code or codex or cursor is not a thing that's going to very soon start improving itself until we lose control of AI.

We've got bigger fish to fry here.

All right, that's enough for this week.

We'll be back on Monday with an advice episode of this show, which you check out.

I'll probably have another reality check next Thursday.

Until then, however, remember, care about AI, but not everything you read about it.

I'm not recording this from my normal studio in Washington, D.C.