> Markdown version of [/magazine/480-dev-digest-135-ai-is-doomed](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/480-dev-digest-135-ai-is-doomed). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

---

# Dev Digest 135 - AI is Doomed

**By:** [Chris Heilmann](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@chris-heilmann)

**Published:** September 30, 2024

## News and Articles

We can all relax as [Bill Gates has a good feeling about AI](https://www.theverge.com/24235730/bill-gates-ai-climate-change-energy-tech-microsoft-netflix) although it seems that [57% of the internet is AI-generated](https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/sam-altman-indicated-its-impossible-to-create-chatgpt-without-copyrighted-material) and kills search results and [Microsoft's AI PCs can’t play top games](https://www.wsj.com/tech/microsoft-rolled-out-ai-pcs-that-cant-play-top-gamesand-theres-no-quick-fix-0a1b6376?st=tehrtpnld2rac6n). If you ever wondered if your phone is [eavesdropping on conversations for ad targeting](https://www.techspot.com/news/104566-marketing-firm-admits-eavesdropping-conversations-phone-microphones-serve.html), you are correct and there's even a [pitch deck for the feature](https://www.404media.co/heres-the-pitch-deck-for-active-listening-ad-targeting/). **Ford** is even looking into a [patent to make your car spy on you](https://therecord.media/ford-patent-application-in-vehicle-listening-advertising) to show you ads. Do you remember the [One Million Checkboxes](https://onemillioncheckboxes.com/#:~:text=1,000,000%20boxes%20are%20.%20%F0%9F%8E%89%20we%20checked) site from the procrastination corner? People used it to [hide secrets in binary](https://eieio.games/essays/the-secret-in-one-million-checkboxes/)! And if you feel like cheating in school, [ChatGPT now runs on a ti 84 calculator](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/secret-calculator-hack-brings-chatgpt-to-the-ti-84-enabling-easy-cheating/)!

Given that **John Romero** is the featured video this time, let's talk about **Doom**. The big item was that an [AI can hallucinate a Doom game in real time](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/08/new-ai-model-can-hallucinate-a-game-of-1993s-doom-in-real-time/) running [on a Diffusion Model](https://www.404media.co/this-is-doom-running-on-a-diffusion-model/). Much like AI also [can simulate Super Mario Bros. from video footage](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/09/new-ai-model-learns-how-to-simulate-super-mario-bros-from-video-footage/). Doom runs [on a volumetric display](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na7pvihXhYs) with more details how that was done in [this blog post](https://www.xda-developers.com/doom-volumetric-display/). It can also run [on a toothbrush](https://www.404media.co/watch-this-guy-play-doom-on-a-toothbrush/), [on bacteria](https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/31/bacteria_runs_doom/), and[in Zork](https://github.com/scottvr/wadzilla/wiki)!

## Code and Tools

Sorting algorithms are a fun thing to analyse, do you know about [Timsort](https://www.kirupa.com/sorts/timsort.htm)? **Kirupa**  **Chinnathambi** has all about it. Also, you can learn about [lesser known parts of Python](https://www.trickster.dev/post/lesser-known-parts-of-python-standard-library/) standard library, and how to achieve [multithreading in Node.js](https://pavel-romanov.com/multithreading-in-nodejs-using-atomics-for-safe-shared-memory-operations). In games and retro land, learn how to create a [PS1-Inspired Jitter Shader](https://tympanus.net/codrops/2024/09/03/how-to-create-a-ps1-inspired-jitter-shader-with-react-three-fiber/), [the effect of CRTs on Pixel Art](https://www.datagubbe.se/crt/) and [the art of dithering and retro shading](https://blog.maximeheckel.com/posts/the-art-of-dithering-and-retro-shading-web/) for the web. I keep saying it, we can [learn a lot from vintage computing](https://github.com/readme/featured/vintage-computing). In the AI aided coding world, read about [programming with ChatGPT](https://henrikwarne.com/2024/08/25/programming-with-chatgpt/), what [AI-written code means in terms of data quality,](https://blog.scottlogic.com/2024/09/04/lessons-on-data-quality.html)learn about [the most common bugs in LLM-generated code](https://rdel.substack.com/p/rdel-57-what-are-the-most-common) and that minifying code is pretty pointless as [OpenAI is shockingly good at un-minifying it](https://glama.ai/blog/2024-08-29-reverse-engineering-minified-code-using-openai). There is also a proposal to block AI bots with a [/llms.txt file](https://llmstxt.org/) much like robots.txt that was ignored by them. And last but not least, is [Boolean a trap](https://read.engineerscodex.com/p/the-boolean-trap)? Some say yes, others no.

**Some tools for you:**

- [A DOS JavaScript Canvas with sound](https://github.com/SuperIlu/DOjS)
- [Rustpad](https://github.com/ekzhang/rustpad) - collaborative text editor 
- [Check Your Redirects and Status Codes](https://www.redirectchecker.org/)
- [SeekTune](https://github.com/cgzirim/seek-tune) - Shazam's song recognition algorithm
- [Kontra](https://straker.github.io/kontra/) - JavaScript gaming micro-library the Js13kGames game jam.

## Cool code demos

[
 ![particles](https://wearedevelopers.imgix.net/public/magazine/articles/480/images/66fab07d41e28cef8b002f68_particles.png?w=720&fit=max&dpr=2&auto=format)
](https://lab.basement.studio/experiments/74.particles-emitter.tsx)

[
 ![vertex earth](https://wearedevelopers.imgix.net/public/magazine/articles/480/images/66fab07e878b0a4fd9701519_vertex-earth.png?w=720&fit=max&dpr=2&auto=format)
](https://vertex-earth.vercel.app/)

## Talks and Videos

[
 ![John Romero What AI can, can't and shouldn't do for games](https://wearedevelopers.imgix.net/public/magazine/articles/480/images/66fab07d885346ebcea1afaa_John-Romero-16x9.png?w=720&fit=max&dpr=2&auto=format)
](/videos/997-what-ai-can-can-t-and-shouldn-t-do-for-games)

**John Romero** , the man, the myth, the legend and more behind games like Doom is discussing the current and near future of gaming in an an AI world. [Check it out](/videos/997-what-ai-can-can-t-and-shouldn-t-do-for-games)! We also published a [write-up of the talk in the magazine](/magazine/478-john-romero-what-ai-can-can-t-and-shouldn-t-do-for-games).

**Other videos and talk write-ups of note:**

**Maria Apazoglou** - [Making AI understandable for all in production (35m)](/videos/1209-coffee-with-developers-maria-apazoglou) Also check out the [magazine article about the chat with Maria](/magazine/475-coffee-with-developers-maria-apazoglou-making-ai-understandable-for-all-in-production).

**Johanna Pirker** - [How AI is shaping our games (31m)](/videos/995-how-ai-is-shaping-our-games)

**Jemiah Sius** - [AI-Driven Problem Solving in Engineering with Observability (28m)](/videos/994-mastering-ai-driven-problem-solving-in-engineering-with-observability)

## Work and Jobs

In the work world, there is the question if we should always fix bugs or if it makes sense to [let small fires burn](https://swizec.com/blog/let-small-fires-burn/)? Also, it seems that [doing support makes you a better engineer](https://newsletter.posthog.com/p/doing-support-makes-you-a-better), [AI development and agile don't mix well](https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-development-and-agile-dont-mix-very-well-study-shows/) and [Scrum is stressing people out](https://rethinkingsoftware.substack.com/p/why-scrum-is-stressing-you-out). Wealthfront explain how they [changed their performance review process](https://eng.wealthfront.com/2024/09/06/how-we-updated-our-performance-review-process-to-help-engineers-grow/) to help engineers grow and Matthew Dean wonders why [companies don't pay their engineers to stay](https://marker.medium.com/why-dont-tech-companies-pay-their-engineers-to-stay-b9c7e4b751e9). If you want to plan for your 2025 [Security And Risk Budget](https://go.forrester.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Forrester-Budget-Planning-Guide-2025-Security-And-Risk.pdf), Forrester has a guide. If you wonder [what it is like to work for Mr.Beast](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YaG9xpu-WQKBPUi8yQ4HaDYQLUSa7Y3J/view), he wrote a document about that highlighting everything that is wrong about growth hacking and the fast paced work world we live in.

## Procrastination Corner / Wonderful Weird Web

- [Is my blue your blue](https://ismy.blue/) - some say it is green, others blue
- [Tapedeck.org](http://www.tapedeck.org/index.php) - collection of tapes of yore
- [Stapler: I remade a 32 year old classic Macintosh app](https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2024/08/10/stapler-i-remade-a-32-year-old-classic-macintosh-app/)
- [Nortis: a Tetris clone for the PlayStation 1](https://github.com/jbreckmckye/nortis)



## Related Articles

- [Dev Digest 122 - Cracks in the polyfill](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/457-dev-digest-122-cracks-in-the-polyfill)
- [Dev Digest 130 - The Diablo is in the details](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/470-dev-digest-130-the-diablo-is-in-the-details)
- [Dev Digest 137 - AI'm not sure about this](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/485-dev-digest-137-ai-m-not-sure-about-this)
- [Dev Digest 129 - Now that's what I call private data!](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/468-dev-digest-129-now-that-s-what-i-call-private-data)

## Related Videos

- [DOOM on Neurons, Training AI with Harry Potter & Robots Watching YouTube - Zoran Jambor](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1823-doom-on-neurons-training-ai-with-harry-potter-robots-watching-youtube-zoran-jambor)
- [WeAreDevelopers LIVE - the weekly developer show with Chris Heilmann and Daniel Cranney](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1309-wearedevelopers-live-the-weekly-developer-show-with-chris-heilmann-and-daniel-cranney)
- [Aliens in Quarantine, Python Deprecates Loops, and AI Buys Old Books - Zbyszek Tenerowicz](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2139-aliens-in-quarantine-python-deprecates-loops-and-ai-buys-old-books-zbyszek-tenerowicz)
- [WeAreDevelopers LIVE - "Fun and games - and all that comes with it", Back to BASIC & more](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1719-wearedevelopers-live-fun-and-games-and-all-that-comes-with-it-back-to-basic-more)

## Related Jobs

- [AI Software Engineer (Germany)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48317-ai-software-engineer-germany) at **Sunhat**
- [Principal Engineer - AI Search & Vector Infrastructure](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/381484-principal-engineer-ai-search-vector-infrastructure) at **Redis**
- [Principal Software Engineer, Enterprise AI Platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1467292-principal-software-engineer-enterprise-ai-platform) at **GitHub**
- [Staff Developer Advocate, GitHub Security Lab](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1921051-staff-developer-advocate-github-security-lab) at **GitHub**
- [Principal Engineer - AI Search & Vector Infrastructure](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/353953-principal-engineer-ai-search-vector-infrastructure) at **Redis**
- [AI Full Stack Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1354435-ai-full-stack-engineer) at **Almedia**