Remote
Avner
@Avner@anticapitalist.party
mastodon 4.7.3He/him/his. Still masking. @ashanan on the bird site.
57 Followers
341 Following
18 Posts
Joined April 15, 2017
As the discourse around Large Language Models continues, tech workers are forced to square their personal values with the mandates of their employers, pressure more broadly from a tech industry essentially captured by LLM-and-AGI evangelists, and warring versions of reality that leave little room for nuance.
In that context the idea of "ethical LLMs" gets thrown around a lot, but what is an "ethical LLM?"
Replying to
@foolishowl@social.coop @CoralineAda@ruby.social the Alphabet Workers Union (the google tech workers' union) did have a strategy around this, at least as of this 2021 interview. I have never worked for google, so I don't know much about how that's gone in practice. All I can say is that, as I understand it, the type of union you decide to form affects the tools at your disposal for addressing this issue, and that creates structural barriers no matter which way you decide to go.
https://logicmag.io/distribution/now-i-know-my-abcs-a-conversation-with-two-organizers-from-the-alphabet/
Replying to
@vaurora interesting article! Personally I don't view myself as an artist or a mercenary–or someone who gets paid to type, for that matter. I am a software *engineer* and taking responsibility for what you're building is part of that distinction IMO.
I do agree that these conversations and choices were easier when LLMs were obviously unfit for generating code. But producing feasibly working code as fast as possible isn't actually what a software engineer's job entails.
Replying to
@evilstevie @meltedcheese @mjd sometimes I can fix my wife's computer problems just by walking into the room. She says her laptop is afraid of me 😆😅
Replying to
@c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io @elizayer@mastodon.social absolutely agreed. One way I try to socialize this mindset at work is by publicly celebrating whenever we're able to remove more code than we're creating.
Replying to
@PrinceOfDenmark@mas.to I did not know this about Japan! We are planning a trip there later this year so this is very important information. Thanks!
Replying to
@elizayer@mastodon.social @c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io yes! It really bugs me, no pun intended, that things like stability and, as you say, manageability are rarely considered "features" by the product managers I've worked with.
Not that they don't sometimes acknowledge their importance, mind you, just that those are considered "engineering work" as opposed to "feature work."
Another week, another weeknotes blog post! Some good stuff in this one.
https://ashanan.com/2026/05/12/weeknotes-week-of-5-10-26.html
Is it just me, or is this piece clearly the inspiration for what it looks like inside the game that traps the crew in DS9's "Move Along Home"?
@Remedios_Varo_Bot@mastodon.art
Replying to
@PrinceOfDenmark@mas.to if you don't mind me asking, how long are you going for? And how did you find out?
Replying to
@elizayer@mastodon.social @c0dec0dec0de@hachyderm.io I would love to see that!
It also doesn't help that engineering teams often operate from the same mindset.
Replying to
@lugh_clyde@mastodon.social read the article. It goes into depth on how that image was produced.