alt Hacker NewsThis teaches kids the wrong lessons about developing tools and making things that work for us.
Your child has made something, sure. Did they learn any of the concepts that go into making an approachable and usable tool? Programming and networking basics? Thought through the pros and cons of making something themselves vs. getting familiar with a more fleshed out product?
These AI tools shortcut the important friction of design and churn out lifeless things like this website.
They're 13.
When we were using Hypercard or BASIC to make dumb little programs, we weren't learning any of that stuff either, really.
Making apps is so complicated now that without a little bit of help from LLMs, most kids would probably just give up.
Heck, lots of professional software developers are using LLMs to get over that hump on their side projects for the very same reason.
It's hard to even get started nowadays, and LLMs lower the barrier of entry. This is a good thing.
EDIT: Also, maybe this kid doesn't dream of being a programmer? And they just want an app that solves their immediate problem? Everyone here is being unnecessarily harsh. I hope none of you have kids.