CHATGPT FOMO FUD FUBAR

Today I attended an open source conference. The topics covered a healthy mixture of industry topics. But one throughline cut through attendees, speakers' off-hand remarks, and the schedule itself: AI and specifically ChatGPT. I directly observed:

• Pre-talk bro-chat about which model was better.
• Caveats that the Stack Overflow data didn't represent a time when ChatGPT was yet prevalent
• Quips that the ChatGPT room was bigger than the current speakers' accommodations, maybe they should have spoken about that
• Actual content-driven concerns that AI would exasperate a particular accessibility problem a speaker was addressing

It was distracting. It was...disruptive.

And we've been here before.

And with crypto, blockchain, NFTs... I felt a similar frenzy wash over spaces, waves on a shoreline. The palpable FOMO (fear of missing out) and chasing of new and trendy. This time, another dimension: uncertainty. FUD (Fear, uncertainty, doubt).

If it matters. I'll hear about it eventually. This is one place I just cannot yet spend cycles on. I'm getting to a point in my career where I sorta relish NOT learning about something. Echos of my CSS-Tricks article, "I don't know." (Still the URL I am most proud of)

An attendee I talked to went to a ChatGPT roundtable. He said it was just a bunch of guys talking about what they thought. Seemed on brand.

FUBAR, I say.