This is a real issue in legal as well. Now that large language models are creeping into big law and in-house environments, there's a concern that junior associates aren't getting the opportunity to take a step back and learn to consider the broader context.
When your bidding can be drafted and a path laid in microseconds, it's super easy to start off in the absolutely wrong direction. But you don't know you're headed the wrong way unless you've learned it. Unlike software where bugs like this are sometimes surfaced immediately via the compiler or interacting with the product, legal bugs are latent and only reveal themselves after the potentially massive damage is done[1].
These things are a massive unlock for well-trained senior lawyers who can spot the issue upfront. On the other hand, they amplify juniors' ability to introduce errors at the same time they deprive them of necessary understanding. Having a judge rule on a bad contract idea "at runtime" is a catastrophic failure mode.
[1] As an example of this, consider how Gary Kildall arguably flubbed the deal of a century when he allowed the DRI team to attempt to negotiate the IBM form non-disclosure agreement: https://tritium.legal/blog/redline
trolleski•25m ago
Last time I checked they were HOPING for that. The times change I see.
dude250711•5m ago
> ... arguing that senior software engineers must mentor junior developers to prevent AI coding agents from hollowing out the profession's future skills base.
Nah, I want that COBOL expert treatment in my senior years. Screw the profession, it ain't communism.
piker•33m ago
When your bidding can be drafted and a path laid in microseconds, it's super easy to start off in the absolutely wrong direction. But you don't know you're headed the wrong way unless you've learned it. Unlike software where bugs like this are sometimes surfaced immediately via the compiler or interacting with the product, legal bugs are latent and only reveal themselves after the potentially massive damage is done[1].
These things are a massive unlock for well-trained senior lawyers who can spot the issue upfront. On the other hand, they amplify juniors' ability to introduce errors at the same time they deprive them of necessary understanding. Having a judge rule on a bad contract idea "at runtime" is a catastrophic failure mode.
[1] As an example of this, consider how Gary Kildall arguably flubbed the deal of a century when he allowed the DRI team to attempt to negotiate the IBM form non-disclosure agreement: https://tritium.legal/blog/redline