Attack on Copyright and Copyleft by Code Conversion Is Nothing New, It Predates Slop (Code Produced by LLMs) by Several Decades
Code conversions need not rely on mindless slopping; tools for conversions have existed for generations and some of the most accurate ones are deterministic, too
Converting computer program A into B, either from language C to D or from C to C (where C need not be the C language) is as old as computers. Even compilers are, in effect, converting some code in Lisp or COBOL or whatever into something a processor can read and process quickly. The idea that scammers and charlatans (plagiarism artists) who call everything "AI" somehow "invented" code conversations is ludicrous and laughable (see "IBM Did Not Fall Because of COBOL Vapourware, IBM Still Collapses Because It's Worthless, Way Overvalued, and Very Likely Cooks the Books"), yet some of the clueless media pretends we have a new issue that will "doom" what they call "Open Source". The Register MS has already done this several times and then there's Perens' take on slop versus copyleft, as noted this morning.
Even back in the 90s many people converted programs from one language to another. That could invalidate copyleft (and copyright - perhaps by direct extension), which already existed. When it comes to publishers that say "AI" (because they get paid to do this!), a lot boils down to hype and sensationalism converted into a form of low-grade, fact-free marketing stunts. Consider "Entirely Vibe-Coded Operating System Is a Bug-Filled Disaster". At AMD, insiders who don't code are letting quality degrade, then they are boasting about it. They want us to think that a pile of slop is comparable to the "real thing", which is already quite abundant and well tested, understood by many developers and so on. Take a look at "Claude Code deletes developers' production setup, including its database and snapshots — 2.5 years of records were nuked in an instant". It's new and it says:
Unfortunately, Gregory assumed at this point that the bot would continue cleaning up duplicate resources and only then look into the state file to see how it was meant to be set up in the first place. Terraform and similar tools can be very unforgiving, particularly when coupled with blind obedience. As Claude now had the state file, it logically followed it, issuing a Terraform "destroy" operation in preparation to set up things correctly this time.
Yes, real genius right there! Coders are not doomed, but companies that work hard to lower salaries and lessen headcount use particular narratives to bash their workers, devaluing them. All that slop in codebase will become a long-term liability or "legacy code" (that will need to be replaced by skilled professionals, not people who prompt LLMs). █
Image source: The Invisible Woman