'AI' Is Not a Tool by Rich Hickey

Explain Like I'm Normal

Legendary programmer Rich Hickey argues that LLMs lack the fundamental qualities of 'tools' because they are non-deterministic and lack intent. He posits that calling AI a tool is a category error that leads to dangerous over-reliance on systems that can't be reasoned about like traditional software. The critique focuses on the shift from 'doing what we say' to 'guessing what we want.'