Elon Musk Secretly Working to Rewrite the Social Security Codebase Using AI : TooDumbToImagine

[+] regrub@lemmy.world 33 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

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[-] Thorry84@feddit.nl 7 points 3 weeks ago

I've been asked to look at codebases created by people without programming skills using AI. They ask me to just fix this one little thing, it's perfect otherwise. But it's not perfect otherwise, the more you look, the more issues you can spot. I've never accepted to even begin work on such a codebases, they should be nuked from orbit, only way to be sure.

We used to have this joke, where somebody said they got the code from StackOverflow and we would ask "From the question or the answer?". All the current models have been trained on sources like StackOverflow and probably won't weigh the -10.000 down voted answer any different from the actual good answer, if there ever was a good answer to begin with.

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Big assumption that they're actually going to try and fix the mess rather than declare that the system doesn't work and scrap the whole thing.

[-] BestBouclettes@jlai.lu 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I work with COBOL software. That thing is so sensitive and complex, they just piled up wrappers, and apis of all kinds on top of the original COBOL code to avoid touching it because it just works. And that software is nowhere near critical as the backend for social security.

Good fucking luck

[-] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yes, the people that think those monsters czn just be rewritten have never actually looked at how they work. After half an hour they'd have a very different opinion.

[-] pixxelkick@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago

People in the US are gonna see news like this and their first thought somehow still isn't "how do I expedite emigrating"

People are going to go "haha, what a clown show" and not realize the clown show they are laughing at... is a tent burning down... and they're in that tent right now

[-] Letstakealook@lemm.ee 6 points 3 weeks ago

Americans can't just emigrate somewhere. What a silly ass thing to say. The majority, in fact, would not be able to.

[-] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

I don't get it. I began planning my exit almost six years ago when it was fully obvious that merely voting couldn't fix that country. We still vote from afar. The ones who stayed have a fight on their hands whether they admit it or not.

Should I have stayed and fought? My family and my wife's were only Americans for one generation each. Our grandparents got swept up in the country's postwar economic might, and we grew up in the scraps of what remained while our parents' generation let Reagan accelerate a decades-long heist.

We've no illusions about the history of the UK or its current trajectory, but at least there aren't heaps of guns lying around. Sheesh.

[-] nazgul666@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago

When I was working with COBOL and a 30yrs old codebase, I was always scared of majorly fucking up, even when only doing small changes.

Really glad that I am not involved in that project...

[-] lettruthout@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

What could go wrong?

[-] Hudell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

Converting it to modern tools can definitely be done in a safely manner. I personally would start by running the new system in a separate network, just re-processing the requests that had been processed by the old system and checking it they came out with the same result. I would leave that on until it got to at least a year without any differences between the result of both systems. Only then would I start considering replacement.

I wouldn't trust such replacement on 95% of people I've worked with before. I definitely wouldn't trust someone with Elon's track record to manage it.

[-] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago

I'll watch this with glee 🍿

[-] Letstakealook@lemm.ee 3 points 3 weeks ago

You enjoy the old, sick, and disabled being left with zero money and zero support? What a POS.

[-] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 weeks ago

Of course I don't and you know it.

Too Dumb To Imagine