Zig Creator Calls Spade a Spade, Anthropic Blows Smoke
The author critiques Anthropic's marketing narrative regarding the future of software engineering and AI. They argue that the company is selling a hypothetical future to investors while ignoring the practical realities of software development.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between AI hype and the actual utility of coding agents in the professional software industry.
I harass the sea with my tiny boat and am called a pirate, you do it with a great fleet and are called a king.
Anthropic is actively campaigning to end software engineering . They need you to believe they can do that. Well, maybe it’s not you that they need to convince. Maybe it’s your C-Suite, various world leaders, or the manager of your retirement fund. They’ve raised $132 billion in investment, and are approaching an IPO valued over $1 trillion. Since they cannot show profitability , this depends on selling their hypothetical future impact.
In literary terms, Anthropic is an unreliable narrator .
One of their key narratives is: Coding is going away, then the rest of software engineering , and eventually most other human labor . This kind of money behind this kind of story has an impact, regardless of how true we think the story is.
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