I have a more serious post coming, but I figured better not risk being confused for a bad joke (especially given the chardet controversy.

So instead - something I’ve been promising some people I would write about … the idea that we can classify developers based on their attitude towards (generative) AI, a.k.a. LLMs.

Mind you, don’t take this too seriously, and especially, don’t feel singled out. I’m making fun of myself too here! Suggestions for improvements welcome, of course.

Inspired by, but not really derived from, the Wikipedia entry.

Lawful good

A lawful good developer tries to avoid using LLMs as much as possible on ethical grounds (copyright infringement, environmental impact, impact on employment, military use, etc.). They might regret foregoing lucrative, high-paying jobs that are conditional on embracing the use of LLMs.

Neutral good

A neutral good developer has no problem with copyright laws, but does not feel beholden to them (they probably take perverse satisfaction in copyleft. They begrudgingly use LLMs if they have to, but long for the AI bust and sees it as a race against time to produce as much sustainable tools as possible with the tokens they are forced to spend.

Chaotic good

A chaotic good developer embraces LLMs on the ground that intellectual property is theft, and thus LLM use basically liberates code that should not have been copyrighted in the first place. See LWN’s coverage of vibe-coded ext4 for OpenBSD, with this choice quote:

We can freely steal each other in a new original way without copyright infringment its totally crazy the amount of code you can steal in just 1h. What took 20 years to Bell labs can now be done in 20 hours straight.

Lawful neutral

A lawful neutral developer would strictly defer to what courts have decided when it comes to AI usage. Which in effect means they have no problem using it.

True neutral

True neutral developers would seek balance between the pro-LLM camp and the anti-LLM camp. Whether that’s head in the sand is a good question.

Chaotic neutral

A chaotic neutral developer would use whatever gains them the most enjoyment, and steers clear of the controversy. Life is too short.

Lawful evil

Not sure you can find these among developers, but those who work to lobby for the chaotic evils (see below) might fit in here.

Neutral evil

Neutral evil developers are typically selfish and have no strong principles, as long as the money is good. Big tech developers are often viewed to belong in this category, rightly or wrongly.

Chaotic evil

Some of the techbroligarchs comes to mind. Enough said.

That’s it, folks!

It turns out to be more dark than I thought… oh well. Pop quiz - which category would you place me in? How about yourself?

This post is day 34 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.

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