Innovation Matters
Essays on AI, developer tools, and thoughtful software.
Is your eval lying to you?
Your eval passes on every commit. But what did its graders actually prove?
Not every app in an enterprise is an enterprise app
An app used in an enterprise and an enterprise app may sound like the same thing. Confuse them, and you'll badly underestimate what it takes to replace one.
A knowledge cutoff is a ceiling, not a snapshot
A model's knowledge cutoff looks precise. But how much does that date actually tell you about what it knows?
You don't "just" replace an enterprise app
AI can reproduce the screens of an expensive enterprise app in a weekend. But before you celebrate the savings, ask what exactly your company has been paying for.
What's your minimal viable model?
A better AI model appears, so you switch. But how would you know whether its extra intelligence makes any difference to your work?