I gave Codex a task of porting an OpenCV tracking algorithm (CSRT) from C++ to Rust, so that I can directly use it in my project without having to cross-compile

It one-shot the task perfectly in 1hr, and even developed a GUI on top of it. All I did was to provide the original source and algo paper

I’ve spent years getting specialized in writing numerical code (computational mechanics, fem), and now AI can automate 95% of the low-level grunt work

Acquiring these skills involved highly difficult, excruciating intellectual labor spanning many years, very similar to ML research. Doing tensor math, writing out the solver code, wondering why your solution is not converging, finally figuring out it was a sign typo after 2 days

Kids these days both have it easy and hard. They can fast forward large chunks of the work, but then they will never understand things as deeply as someone who wrote the whole thing by hand

I guess the more valuable skill now is being able to zoom in and out of abstraction levels quickly when needed. Using AI, but recognizing fast when it fails, learning what needs to be done, fixing it, zooming back out, repeat. Adaptive learning, a sort of “depth-on-demand”. The quicker you can pick up new skills and knowledge, the more successful you will be


Originally posted: