Post #3068899

2026-05-15 20:38 UTC

@mitchellh@hachyderm.io One of the best descriptions I've heard lately was that it feels like "losing coworkers to dementia" as people adopt it, where everyone feels like they know everything, but when you talk with them in person or there is a problem that needs to be fixed _now_ it becomes very clear that the capability to do that has atrophied basically completely

Replies (6)

@johannab@cosocial.ca 2026-05-16 04:43

@pojntfx@mastodon.social @mitchellh@hachyderm.io holy goats, hadn’t hear that dementia analogy before but that is exactly it. I’ve lost elder family to dementia and when you’ve lived with it you realize that it is so much more than “forgetting”, it is literal decay of executive, cognitive capability. Not sure i hould say thanks for sharing that, i’m now going to see it everywhere. 😳

Open ##3068900
@cczona@hachyderm.io 2026-05-16 06:34

@pojntfx@mastodon.social I lost a loved one to dementia, and have been saying for a while how similar LLM psychosis is to that experience. https://hachyderm.io/@cczona/114618173190392133 https://hachyderm.io/@cczona/116019873544950215 They think they are fine, while the person you used to know is gradually replaced by someone unrecognisable. Professional de-skilling issues aside, a sadder dimension to me is how AI psychosis degrades not only cognition but also social skills. So relationships deteriorate too, and at scale that will ultimately become communities and solidarity deteriorating as well. It's been disturbing to see people I care about lose interest in connecting at a human level, while grasping for the empty flattery of a large language model. Is this our future, truly?

Open ##3068908
@sabik@rants.au 2026-05-16 09:40

@pojntfx@mastodon.social @mitchellh@hachyderm.io AI deskilling or covid brain damage; why don't we have both? 😢

Open ##3068920
@commonst@social.vivaldi.net 2026-05-16 10:54

@pojntfx@mastodon.social @mitchellh@hachyderm.io this nails how I have been feeling at work lately. As more people adopt and push AI, it's like seeing more people lose their abilities at a level similar to some senior relatives losing their faculties. Well worded.

Open ##3068924
@ojocle_olonam@mastodon.social 2026-05-16 12:16

@pojntfx@mastodon.social @mitchellh@hachyderm.io I have seen the same behavior even with capable engineers that in the past I knew as strong designers and code quality champions now reduced to faith followers with 2 or 3 agents working on different branches of the same project at the same time and really not understanding or owning anything and still feeling top performers. I do agree it looks very much like a dementia

Open ##3068925
@MonKaiju@todon.nl 2026-05-26 20:54

@pojntfx@mastodon.social @mitchellh@hachyderm.io We had to let a senior dev go who was around when I first got to this current position over this! He was by far the most AI-enthused person on the team and over time his ability to effectively problem solve just evaporated... I didnt know him before so I'm not sure how weak it was before but he was a senior, had worked as a dev for over a decade, and just couldnt move the needle at all by the time he was let go.

Open ##3068926