[CursedSilicon]

At least in retro spaces there's a lot of rejection of using AI to do things.

Half-Life (and the later Source engine games such as Half-Life 2 and Portal) were ported without LLM assistance however

(Source: I am in the Discord where the developer has been working and diligently posting updates on the project)

[Jackknife9]

Yeah, I’ve definitely seen this sentiment in the retro tech community.

I think hobbiests do not have that much free time to create these tools for retro computers. AI is a great tool for this, as it saves time so people can make projects that would otherwise not exist.

I remember arguing with someone on Reddit who said they’d rather not have the tool if it was made by AI, which I thought was a crazy take.

[userbinator]

At least in retro spaces there's a lot of rejection of using AI to do things.

I suspect the community will fracture, and then once the pro-AI side shows off more and more of the amazing things they accomplished, they'll grow while the anti-AI side will eventually dry up into a few luddites.

I'm old enough to have been on the anti-HLL side when I was handwriting Asm for the PC, but of course HLLs took over because they're "good enough" and became a massive force multiplier.

[turpentine]

Yet the dev has posted here on HN saying they used LLMs to do the port, but have a preference not to communicate their AI use.

[CamperBob2]

(Removed inaccurate remark, or rather, removed my reply to an inaccurate remark)

[srp-shay]

Hi there, I'm the developer of this port.

I did use AI to assist me in development and I'm not shy about admitting that. This was still a hands-on effort that took well over 40 hours of development time spread over a couple months. Much like other development tools, AI certainly sped up my development process and allowed to ship something in a couple of months using my free time.

AI is a tool and it isn't going anywhere, I've posted my thoughts about AI extensively in the PowerPC community. I don't proactively volunteer or plaster my readmes with notes about AI because it doesn't really matter.

Speaking for me personally I have no problem using tools in my toolbelt to solve problems faster in my limited free time.

[yowzadave]

I recommend you approach life in a spirit of curiosity—it can be interesting to learn about the different interests and motivations of other people!

[hoten]

"unsustainable" is an odd word to use for a hobby. They aren't trying to hit productivity goals. Maybe they just still like programming.

[CamperBob2]

I do, too, but I'm feeling increasingly awkward doing it by hand.

NGL, it's not an altogether-comfortable feeling. At least not yet.

[CursedSilicon]

What a bizarre take

Many people refuse to use LLM's for various reasons that I don't need to rehash here

[CamperBob2]

"Bizarre" is rejecting powerful tools on ... what, religious grounds?

It would be one thing if we were talking woodworking or pottery or another skilled craft, where your personal growth of talent with experience is evident in the product, resulting in something you can look back on fondly and point to with pride.

But moving some legacy code (which you didn't write) from one platform to another? What do you get out of doing that by hand?

[CursedSilicon]

You seem either deliberately or functionally unable to grasp the premise of why anyone would do this (or reject LLM's)

I suggest instead you go read up on why people dislike them and gain a more well-rounded and nuanced understanding of the topic

[CamperBob2]

And you seem to be operating on a faulty premise (as was I.)