TITLE: "I Just Need a Programmer, er, Writer"
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: March 31, 2023  3:57 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:

 This line line from
<a href="https://terribleminds.com/ramble/2023/02/16/a-i-and-the-fetishization-of-ideas/">
   Chuck Wendig's post</a>
 on AI tools and writing:

 <blockquote><em>
 Hell, it's the thing every writer has heard from some jabroni who
 tells you, "I got this great idea, you write it, we'll split the
 money 50/50, boom."
 </em></blockquote>

 ... brought to mind one of my most-read blog posts ever,
<a href="https://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2010-12.html#e2010-12-01T15_45_40.htm">
   "I Just Need a Programmer"</a>:

 <blockquote><em>
 As head of the Department of Computer Science at my university, I
 often receive e-mail and phone calls from people with The Next
 Great Idea.  The phone calls can be quite entertaining!  The
 caller is an eager entrepreneur, drunk on their idea to
 revolutionize the web, to replace Google, to top Facebook, or to
 change the face of business as we know it.  ...
 <br/><br/>
 They just need a programmer.  ...
 </em></blockquote>

 The opening of that piece sounds a little harsh more than a
 decade later, but the basic premise holds.  And, as Wendig
 notes, it holds beyond the software world.  I even once wrote
 <a href="https://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2015-06.html#e2015-06-02T13_46_50.htm">
    a short follow-up</a>
 when accomplished TV writer Ken Levine commented on his blog
 about the same phenomenon in screenwriting.
 <br/><br/>
 Some misconceptions are evergreen.

 Adding AI to the mix adds a new twist.  I do think human
 execution in telling stories will still matter, though.  I'm
 not yet convinced that the AI tools have the depth of network
 to replace human creativity.

 However, maybe tools such as ChatGPT can be the programmer people
 need.  A lot of folks are putting these tools to good use creating
 prototypes, and people who know how to program are using them
 effectively as accelerators.  Execution will still matter, but
 these programs may be useful contributors on the path to a product.
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