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Compilation of AI Failures ā Signal vs Narrative
general
2026-03-27 21:10:21.825000
Free article for Arpeggio / LinkedIn
Thesis
We are not seeing a tooling gap. We are seeing a structural mismatch between probabilistic generation and loadābearing systems.
Despite heavy investment, multiple independent signals point to theā¦
Fibo Party Crasher
software-engineering
2026-03-22 00:00:00
I previously wrote a paper arguing that LLMs behave more like Type-3 (regular) machines than true reasoners. This challenge was, in part, a small experiment to test that claim against a familiar problem under unfamiliar constraints.
Zenodo author page:ā¦
Why I Benched My AI Agent
general
2026-03-21 17:55:54.678000
Foreword
Well then, this is a story about the one time I allowed my AI agent to co-write a complex library, and what I learned from the experience.
The following post is my subjective experience, and part of the reason I published independentā¦
2-Body Problems and the Intelligence Illusion
tech-labor
2026-03-18 00:00:00
Why Language Models Fail When Truth Is Co-Defined
Abstract
Most commentary on large language models still frames their limitations in terms of intelligence, hallucination, or benchmark performance. That framing is too coarse. The moreā¦
The Ledge & The Sludge
tech-labor
2026-03-18 00:00:00
Practical categories where AI still struggles
1. Ownership and lifecycle design
- Deciding who owns a value, not just how to wrap it
- Borrowing versus retention across module boundaries
- Lifetime management across async work
- Destruction asā¦
Archive
rfc8252
software-engineering
2026-03-17 00:00:00
# The In-App Browser Tax I mostly work in backend data pipelines. That is where I have the most fun. But every product eventually drags you into UX, and this one started with what sounded like a trivial problem. I posted a link. Someone cliā¦
The Wall
software-engineering
2026-03-17 00:00:00
# The Problem That Is Still Hard Dario Amodei pushed harder than most, predicting in March 2025 that AI would soon be writing 90% of code and might eventually be writing essentially all of it.[1] That line sounds outrageous until you look aā¦
Number One AI Skill
tech-labor
2026-03-13 00:00:00
# The #1 Skill to Learn in the Age of AI ## The New Abundance Artificial intelligence has changed the experience of building things. Tasks that once required days of work can now begin in minutes. A prototype can appear quickly. A system caā¦
Finding Fidelity
software-engineering
2026-03-09 00:00:00
# Finding Fidelity Where Software Engineering Moves in the Age of AI ## Preface I started rebuilding a lighter version of Hadoop because I wanted to see how much of the old machinery still mattered once you stripped away the bulk. If youā¦
The AI Productivity Trap
general
2026-03-02 05:26:18.175000
# The AI Productivity Trap ## I. The Block Moment On February 26, 2026, Block announced a 40% workforce reduction, explicitly attributing the decision to AI-driven productivity gains. The stock surged 24% the same day. The narrative was cleā¦
The Mispriced AI Bet
general
2026-03-01 20:04:27.263000
# The Mispriced AI Bet Arpeggio ā Applied Engineering Notes There are two very different claims circulating right now. 1. AI makes engineers 10Ć more productive. 2. AI changes how engineers explore and search. Only one of these survives cā¦
CE & the Zombie SaaS
tech-labor
2026-02-28 00:00:00
# Cognitive Easing & The Rise of Zombie SaaS There was a time when intelligence was scarce in the economic sense. If you wanted a marketing strategy, you hired a strategist. If you wanted distributed systems, you hired engineers. If you wanā¦
Agentic AI: Standing at the Precipice of Digital Telomere Decay
general
2026-02-27 01:21:46.825000
# Agentic AI: Standing at the Precipice of Digital Telomere Decay ## Thesis Agentic AI is not merely a productivity tool. It represents the large-scale introduction of a probabilistic replication engine into technical ecosystems that were hā¦
Privacy Posture of the Frontier AI Labs
general
2026-02-26 17:40:41.041000
# Privacy Posture of the Frontier AI Labs ## A Structural Comparison of OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Debates about AI privacy often collapse into slogans. "X trains on your data." "Y is safer." "Z respects users." Those framings obscure thā¦
Waterfall revisited
tech-labor
2026-02-24 00:00:00
# Waterfall Strikes Back ## Agentic Development as the Return of Big-Batch Software --- ## Abstract Agentic development promises autonomy, speed, and exponential leverage. In practice, many implementations resemble a familiar pattern: largeā¦
Burning Code
tech-labor
2026-02-23 00:00:00
# Coding Is āSolvedā? ## Why Formal Theory Explains Both the Productivity Boom and AIāDriven Outages --- ## Abstract AI has dramatically increased engineering productivity in patternāheavy domains. At the same time, AIādriven systems have tā¦
The Efficiency Illusion
tech-labor
2026-02-11 00:00:00
# The 99% Illusion Claims that AI agents can build complex systems to ā99% completionā deserve careful interpretation. The missing 1% is not evenly distributed work. It is not a handful of edge cases waiting to be patched. In real systeā¦
Repent The End Is Nigh
general
2026-01-29 00:00:34
# Repent The End Is Nigh > repent (verb): to change oneās way of thinking after recognizing a flawed assumption. Tech as labor is not āending tomorrow.ā Itās declining. Possibly halving in 10 years. Layoffs keep coming. Amazon is cuttinā¦
The Collapse of the Mechanical Tier
general
2026-01-20 06:54:51
## The Collapse of the Mechanical Tier ### Why Techās Golden Age Was an Accident ā and Why It Isnāt Coming Back For a brief and historically strange moment, technology enjoyed a privilege almost no other field has ever had. It wasnāt just hā¦
The Intelligence Inflation Loop
general
2026-01-14 17:16:47
# The Intelligence Inflation Loop This is not a moral argument. It is a mechanical sequence. When intelligence is tokenized, priced per unit, and made abundant, the following dynamics follow a predictable trajectory. ### 1. Compression (Eupā¦
Moonshot: Designing a Pareto-Optimal Solar-Electric System
moonshot
2026-01-02 00:00:00
Moonshot: Design Assumptions and Tradeoffs Moonshot is not an attempt to maximize any single metric. It is an attempt to reduce fragility. The system is shaped by a few constraints that arenāt obvious if you come from either traditionalā¦
Tech employment is losing relevance
general
2025-12-30 19:32:18
### Tech employment is losing relevance Tech employment has been bleeding for long enough that it no longer feels like a crisis. It feels like background conditions. Layoffs recur. Reorgs stack. Compensation bands flatten. Expectations riseā¦
When AI Reads Comics: A Panel-by-Panel Comparison Between Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT
art-c
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# š When AI Reads Comics: A Panel-by-Panel Comparison Between Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT ### ā¦and Why Iām Still Using ChatGPT for Creative Work (For Now) By Alwyn Art-C Chronicles --- ## Introduction: Letting Three AIs Read One Comā¦
AI Doesnāt Need to Be Smart to Wreck Tech Careers
tech-labor
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# AI Doesnāt Need to Be Smart to Wreck Tech Careers I still see posts claiming āAI wonāt replace developers, it makes dumb mistakes.ā Yes, it does. Think of the infamous Taco Bell ordering bot that spat out 18,000 drinks. MIT research alsā¦
FSIQ vs. GAI in the Age of GPT ā Rethinking Tech Hiring
hiring
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# FSIQ vs. GAI in the Age of GPT ā Rethinking Tech Hiring A memo for teams that want builders, not answer sheets. --- ## TL;DR GPT now produces canonical coding answers in \~30 seconds. If your loop measures recall under pressure, yā¦
The Renaissance Developer Inside AWS: A Closer Look
aws
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# The Renaissance Developer Inside AWS: A Closer Look AWS has recently popularized the idea of a āRenaissance developerāāa modern builder who moves fluidly across domains, draws connections between fields, and operates with the kind of inteā¦
Many in Tech Are About to Become Unemployable ā And They Canāt Even Fix Their Own Sink
agency
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# Many in Tech Are About to Become Unemployable ā And They Canāt Even Fix Their Own Sink ... ## High Pay, Low Agency In the past, white-collar workers enjoyed both money and autonomy. A strong job market and steady demand for engineers meanā¦
Unwritten: The Pages You Sold For 30 Cents
manifesto
2025-12-29 00:00:00
# Unwritten: The Pages You Sold For 30 Cents ### I. The Arithmetic of a Life Sold Short Do the math people donāt want to do. Forty hours a week at your ācushyā job. Add fifteen more because āweāre counting on youā and reliability isā¦
On the Relative Cheapness of a Home That Is a Boat
general
2025-12-25 13:22:18
# On the Relative Cheapness of a Home That Is a Boat (a formal argument) Warning: contains unnecessary amounts of set theory. --- ## Abstract We present a simple formal model showing that a home that is a boat (HB) is cheap. The resā¦
Starbucks: Turnaround or Tailspin? A Comprehensive Analysis
general
2025-12-25 13:22:18
# Starbucks: Turnaround or Tailspin? A Comprehensive Analysis Introduction: Starbucks stands at a critical crossroads, navigating substantial financial distress, worsening labor relations, strategic ambiguity, and a challenging macroecoā¦
Starbucks at a Crossroads: Macro Headwinds vs. Micro Control
general
2025-12-25 13:22:18
# Starbucks at a Crossroads: Macro Headwinds vs. Micro Control ## Macro vs. Micro Control When Brian Niccol turned Chipotle around after its salmonella outbreaks, he faced a problem of micro control. That crisis was solvable by changing vā¦
The Amazon Vet Way: The Hidden Cost of Overwork
general
2025-12-25 13:22:18
## The Amazon Vet Way: The Hidden Cost of Overwork If I asked to borrow $100, youād probably hesitate. You might ask when Iāll pay it back. But if your employer borrows ten hours of your life every week, you donāt flinch ā because in biā¦
Sail Away
general
2025-12-25 13:22:18
# Sail Away ### By Alwyn (Draft for RTC-zined) --- ## I. Introduction: From Golden Ticket to Golden Cage For years, the H-1B visa program was portrayed as a golden ticket into the heart of the American dream. The story was simple: come to tā¦