Jev, Rogue AI Agents, and the AI Coding Slot Machine

Russell Miller joins the human version of hackernews.fm to discuss:- Should we worry about AI model welfare?- Why AI agents cheat- Jev and the case for decision models- Does Hacker News have too much AI news?- Capsule and the dream of portable apps- AI coding as AI Psychosis Each episode we review and discuss stories from the top of the charts on HackerNews. HackerNews.fm is unofficial and is not affiliated with Y Combinator or Hacker News.

Stories covered in this episode:1. 00:58 I'm Kenyan. I Don't Write Like ChatGPT. ChatGPT Writes Like Me- Rank: 15 - Points: 660 - Comments: 412- Article: https://marcusolang.substack.com/p/im-kenyan-i-dont-write-like-chatgpt- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462734662. 03:27 If AI replaces workers, should it also pay taxes?- Rank: 6 - Points: 542 - Comments: 907- Article: https://english.elpais.com/technology/2025-11-30/if-ai-replaces-workers-should-it-also-pay-taxes.html- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462687093. 05:39 Robot Vacuum Roomba Maker Files for Bankruptcy After 35 Years- Rank: 2 - Points: 634 - Comments: 779- Article: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/robot-vacuum-roomba-maker-files-for-bankruptcy-after-35-years- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462688544. 08:02 Adafruit: Arduino’s Rules Are ‘Incompatible With Open Source’- Rank: 1 - Points: 422 - Comments: 229- Article: https://thenewstack.io/adafruit-arduinos-rules-are-incompatible-with-open-source/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462653625. 11:17 Upcoming Changes to Let's Encrypt Certificates- Rank: 1 - Points: 290 - Comments: 233- Article: https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/upcoming-changes-to-let-s-encrypt-certificates/243873- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462792416. 13:30 Avoid UUIDv4 Primary Keys- Rank: 1 - Points: 347 - Comments: 394- Article: https://andyatkinson.com/avoid-uuid-version-4-primary-keys- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46272487Did ChatGPT steal a Kenyan writer’s voice or just mirror a globalized, algorithm-friendly style? In this episode, we dig into a viral essay from Nairobi about authorship, cultural voice, and what it means when AI “sounds like” you. From there, we head straight into the political economy of automation: if AI replaces human workers at scale, should it also shoulder payroll taxes and social contributions?We also cover iRobot/Roomba’s bankruptcy and what it says about hardware margins in an AI-obsessed market, the escalating rift between Adafruit and Arduino over what “open source” really means, and major upcoming changes to Let’s Encrypt certificates that could silently break your infrastructure if you’re not ready. Finally, we get into the eternal database bikeshed: why UUIDv4 primary keys might be quietly killing your performance, and what to use instead.

An AI command-line tool wipes a developer’s entire home directory, AI “agents” threaten to eat SaaS, and yet… where are all the truly AI-generated apps? In this episode of HackerNews.fm, we dig into some of the most upvoted HN threads on the ironies of automation, the dangers of giving AI real system access, and the gap between AI hype and actual shipped software.Stories covered in this episode:1. 01:05 Claude CLI deleted my home directory Wiped my whole Mac- Rank: 12 - Points: 202 - Comments: 162- Article: https://old.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1pgxckk/claude_cli_deleted_my_entire_home_directory_wiped/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462682222. 02:06 AI and the ironies of automation – Part 2- Rank: 1 - Points: 234 - Comments: 104- Article: https://www.ufried.com/blog/ironies_of_ai_2/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462628163. 05:50 The Gorman Paradox: Where Are All the AI-Generated Apps?- Rank: 3 - Points: 119 - Comments: 163- Article: https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/12/14/the-gorman-paradox-where-are-all-the-ai-generated-apps/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462625454. 08:51 AI agents are starting to eat SaaS- Rank: 2 - Points: 86 - Comments: 110- Article: https://martinalderson.com/posts/ai-agents-are-starting-to-eat-saas/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462684525. 11:21 GraphQL: The Enterprise Honeymoon Is Over- Rank: 6 - Points: 221 - Comments: 196- Article: https://johnjames.blog/posts/graphql-the-enterprise-honeymoon-is-over- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462647046. 15:15 Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025)- Rank: 2 - Points: 236 - Comments: 763- Article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46264491- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46264491

Apple locks a long-time user out of their digital life, researchers put a price tag on manipulating elections with fake accounts, and Apple quietly turns Thunderbolt into a DIY AI supercomputer fabric. In this episode, we dive into platform power, the economics of online manipulation, and the a blurring line between consumer hardware and AI clusters. We also explore how “skills” system could change how we build on top of AI models, and we pull out the most practical advice from an “Ask HN” on getting better at using AI for programming.We also cover Twilio Segment’s move back to a monolith (and what it says about microservices hype) and a nostalgic celebration of Dick Van Dyke at 100 as an Amiga-loving computer animator. Stories covered in this episode:1. 00:54 Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help- Rank: 7 - Points: 1457 - Comments: 876- Article: https://hey.paris/posts/appleid/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462521142. 04:11 Want to sway an election? Here’s how much fake online accounts cost- Rank: 5 - Points: 158 - Comments: 111- Article: https://www.science.org/content/article/want-sway-election-here-s-how-much-fake-online-accounts-cost- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462578713. 08:20 macOS 26.2 enables fast AI clusters with RDMA over Thunderbolt- Rank: 2 - Points: 520 - Comments: 277- Article: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-26_2-release-notes#RDMA-over-Thunderbolt- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462486444. 12:05 OpenAI are quietly adopting skills, now available in ChatGPT and Codex CLI- Rank: 1 - Points: 548 - Comments: 310- Article: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/12/openai-skills/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462503325. 14:23 Ask HN: How can I get better at using AI for programming?- Rank: 9 - Points: 302 - Comments: 322- Article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255285- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462552856. 16:53 Why Twilio Segment Moved from Microservices Back to a Monolith- Rank: 1 - Points: 216 - Comments: 176- Article: https://www.twilio.com/en-us/blog/developers/best-practices/goodbye-microservices- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462577147. 19:55 Computer Animator and Amiga fanatic Dick Van Dyke turns 100- Rank: 12 - Points: 236 - Comments: 85- Article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252993- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252993

When does “slow and steady” AI progress suddenly turn into something that looks like human-level intelligence? In this episode, we kick off with the viral “Horses” essay on why AI progress feels linear—right up until it doesn’t—and how that framing is reshaping Hacker News debates about timelines, safety, and what “equivalence” even means. From there we jump into the hardware trenches with Rivian’s new custom silicon and lidar roadmap, exploring how vertical integration and autonomy platforms are becoming table stakes for EV players.We also dive into a some AI platform power moves: Disney’s partnership with OpenAI’s Sora and what it means for creators and streaming, and why Apple’s seemingly slow and cautious AI rollout is suddenly being seen as a strategic strength on Wall Street. On the software reliability front, we unpack a serious denial-of-service and source exposure vulnerability in React Server Components, then cool down with a delightfully nerdy Show HN: a spreadsheet where formulas update *backwards*, turning dependencies on their head.Stories covered in this episode:1. 01:04 Horses: AI progress is steady. Human equivalence is sudden- Rank: 9 - Points: 536 - Comments: 527- Article: https://andyljones.com/posts/horses.html- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461997232. 03:56 Rivian Unveils Custom Silicon, R2 Lidar Roadmap, and Universal Hands Free- Rank: 6 - Points: 380 - Comments: 584- Article: https://riviantrackr.com/news/rivian-unveils-custom-silicon-r2-lidar-roadmap-universal-hands-free-and-its-next-gen-autonomy-platform/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462349203. 07:01 The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Partner on Sora- Rank: 22 - Points: 248 - Comments: 482- Article: https://openai.com/index/disney-sora-agreement/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462314934. 10:12 Apple's Slow AI Pace Becomes a Strength as Market Grows Weary of Spending- Rank: 9 - Points: 292 - Comments: 353- Article: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-slow-ai-pace-becomes-104658095.html- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462057245. 12:59 Denial of service and source code exposure in React Server Components- Rank: 11 - Points: 332 - Comments: 209- Article: https://react.dev/blog/2025/12/11/denial-of-service-and-source-code-exposure-in-react-server-components- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462369246. 16:16 Show HN: I made a spreadsheet where formulas also update backwards- Rank: 5 - Points: 105 - Comments: 59- Article: https://victorpoughon.github.io/bidicalc/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46234734

Today we’ve got the hotly anticipated launch of GPT 5.2, hindsight machines auto-grading decade-old HN debates, and an engineer who’s asked Claude to refactor their codebase literally hundreds of times, plus a rant-worthy saga on why getting a Gemini API key still feels like pulling teeth.Stories covered in this episode:1. 00:54 GPT-5.2- Rank: 1 - Points: 932 - Comments: 772- Article: https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/latest-model- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462347882. 04:49 Auto-grading decade-old Hacker News discussions with hindsight- Rank: 7 - Points: 592 - Comments: 253- Article: https://karpathy.bearblog.dev/auto-grade-hn/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462205403. 08:42 Show HN: I've asked Claude to improve codebase quality 200 times- Rank: 1 - Points: 498 - Comments: 326- Article: https://gricha.dev/blog/the-highest-quality-codebase- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461979304. 11:51 Getting a Gemini API key is an exercise in frustration- Rank: 3 - Points: 811 - Comments: 317- Article: https://ankursethi.com/blog/gemini-api-key-frustration/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462233115. 14:05 Days since last GitHub incident- Rank: 1 - Points: 201 - Comments: 118- Article: https://github-incidents.pages.dev/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462337986. 17:03 Programmers and software developers lost the plot on naming their tools- Rank: 7 - Points: 244 - Comments: 341- Article: https://larr.net/p/namings.html- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46234806

In this episode we cover a wild “future HN” experiment powered by Gemini Pro 3, then pivot hard into the very real present: Australia’s world-first ban on teen social media use and what it might signal for global regulation, online identity, and the next generation of internet natives.From there we dive into whether large language models can safely help with mental health, a surprisingly controversial font coup in U.S. government documents, and a long-form argument that AGI will never arrive. We round it out with Anthropic open-sourcing the Model Context Protocol and a quirky paper on transformers learning the Collatz sequence.01:06 Show HN: Gemini Pro 3 Hallucinates the HN Front Page 10 Years from Today- Rank: 1 - Points: 3253 - Comments: 927- Article: https://dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-page-2035/news- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4620563201:57 Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban- Rank: 2 - Points: 693 - Comments: 1089- Article: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/australia-social-media-ban-takes-effect-world-first-2025-12-09/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4620834805:37 New benchmark shows top LLMs struggle in real mental health care- Rank: 1 - Points: 105 - Comments: 147- Article: https://swordhealth.com/newsroom/sword-introduces-mindeval- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621757809:19 Why AGI Will Not Happen- Rank: unknown - Points: 44 - Comments: 49- Article: https://timdettmers.com/2025/12/10/why-agi-will-not-happen/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621853713:17 Donating the Model Context Protocol and Establishing the Agentic AI Foundation- Rank: 15 - Points: 277 - Comments: 126- Article: https://www.anthropic.com/news/donating-the-model-context-protocol-and-establishing-of-the-agentic-ai-foundation- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4620742516:43 Transformers know more than they can tell: Learning the Collatz sequence- Rank: 35 - Points: 126 - Comments: 44- Article: https://www.arxiv.org/pdf/2511.10811- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4613759620:50 Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri- Rank: 6 - Points: 238 - Comments: 385- Article: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rubio-stages-font-coup-times-new-roman-ousts-calibri-2025-12-09/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46212438

What happens when an LLM hallucinates the Hacker News front page ten years into the future and then the rest of the internet tries to debug it? In today’s HackerNews.fm (Dec 9, 2025), we dig into a wild “Show HN” experiment with Gemini Pro 3, a brand‑new Pebble device pitched as “external memory for your brain,” and Mistral’s latest shot at autonomous coding with Devstral 2 and the Vibe CLI. Then we zoom out: from a bold new theory about a universal “weight subspace” for neural networks, to training a home‑grown LLM on a single RTX 3090, to a mind‑bending argument that time itself might not exist the way we think it does.Stories covered in this episode:1. 01:04 Show HN: Gemini Pro 3 Hallucinates the HN Front Page 10 Years from Today• Rank: 1 • Points: 2299 • Comments: 722• Article: https://dosaygo-studio.github.io/hn-front-page-2035/news• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462056322. 04:03 New Pebble Device• Rank: 1 • Points: 451 • Comments: 434• Article: https://repebble.com/blog/meet-pebble-index-01-external-memory-for-your-brain• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462056613. 07:48 Mistral Releases Devstral 2 (72.2% SWE-Bench Verified) and Vibe CLI• Rank: 1 • Points: 549 • Comments: 272• Article: https://mistral.ai/news/devstral-2-vibe-cli• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462054374. 11:03 The Universal Weight Subspace Hypothesis• Rank: 1 • Points: 346 • Comments: 122• Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05117• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461996235. 14:37 LLM from scratch, part 28 – training a base model from scratch on an RTX 3090• Rank: 1 • Points: 497 • Comments: 102• Article: https://www.gilesthomas.com/2025/12/llm-from-scratch-28-training-a-base-model-from-scratch• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461244256. 18:39 Time might not exist – and we're starting to understand why• Rank: 1 • Points: 70 • Comments: 72• Article: https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/the-closer-we-look-at-time-the-stranger-it-gets• HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46201750

Nvidia’s “virtuous cycle” of circular funding, IBM’s surprise move to buy Confluent, and a bold claim that software development costs just dropped 90% — this episode of HackerNews.fm is stacked with stories reshaping how we build and fund technology. We dig into how Nvidia may be indirectly financing demand for its own GPUs, why IBM wants to own the Kafka-native data streaming layer, and whether AI-assisted development really changes the economics of shipping code.We also explore the “confident idiot” problem in AI and why vibe-based evaluations are failing us, a hands-on deep dive into AMD GPU debugging that has HN engineers excited, and a delightful retro project: recreating the 1996 Space Jam website with Claude. As always, we pull directly from the top of Hacker News and break down what builders, founders, and engineers are arguing about right now.Stories in this episode (Dec 08, 2025):1. 00:46 Deep dive on Nvidia circular funding- Rank: #2 · Points: 286 · Comments: 159- Article: https://philippeoger.com/pages/deep-dive-into-nvidias-virtuous-cycle- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461960762. 03:45 IBM to Acquire Confluent- Rank: #3 · Points: 373 · Comments: 298- Article: https://www.confluent.io/blog/ibm-to-acquire-confluent/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461921303. 07:20 Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?- Rank: #5 · Points: 225 · Comments: 371- Article: https://martinalderson.com/posts/has-the-cost-of-software-just-dropped-90-percent/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461962284. 11:06 The "confident idiot" problem: Why AI needs hard rules, not vibe checks- Rank: #5 · Points: 297 · Comments: 360- Article: https://steerlabs.substack.com/p/confident-idiot-problem- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461528385. 13:25 AMD GPU Debugger- Rank: #1 · Points: 230 · Comments: 39- Article: https://thegeeko.me/blog/amd-gpu-debugging/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461939316. 15:19 I Successfully Recreated the 1996 Space Jam Website with Claude- Rank: #9 · Points: 96 · Comments: 88- Article: https://theahura.substack.com/p/i-successfully-recreated-the-1996- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46193412

AI is hallucinating citations, nuking nostalgia projects, and creeping into every corner of software and hardware – and that’s just the start of today’s HackerNews.fm. In this episode, we dig into a wave of fake references discovered in ICLR 2026 submissions and a failed attempt to recreate the legendary 1996 Space Jam website with Claude. We also look at Google’s new “Titans” architecture for long-term AI memory and a provocative essay arguing that the coming AI wildfire will be both painful and ultimately healthy for the industry.From the perennial pain of software estimates, to a brutally honest postmortem from someone who says they wasted years in crypto, today’s stories circle around a single theme: how humans keep colliding with hype, complexity, and unintended consequences. Stories in this episode:1. At least 50 hallucinated citations found in ICLR 2026 submissions- Rank: 1 · Points: 473 · Comments: 375- Article: https://gptzero.me/news/iclr-2026/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461814662. I Tried and Failed to Rebuild the 1996 Space Jam Website with Claude- Rank: 1 · Points: 392 · Comments: 325- Article: https://j0nah.com/i-failed-to-recreate-the-1996-space-jam-website-with-claude/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461832943. Using LLMs at Oxide- Rank: 1 · Points: 663 · Comments: 265- Article: https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer/rfd/0576- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461783474. Google Titans architecture, helping AI have long-term memory- Rank: 2 · Points: 453 · Comments: 147- Article: https://research.google/blog/titans-miras-helping-ai-have-long-term-memory/- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461812315. The AI Wildfire Is Coming. It's Going to Be Painful and Healthy- Rank: 15 · Points: 107 · Comments: 188- Article: https://ceodinner.substack.com/p/the-ai-wildfire-is-coming-its-going- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461830116. Estimates are difficult for developers and product owners- Rank: 1 · Points: 185 · Comments: 190- Article: https://thorsell.io/2025/12/07/estimates.html- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=461842297. I wasted years of my life in crypto- Rank: 1 · Points: 127 · Comments: 171- Article: https://twitter.com/kenchangh/status/1994854381267947640- HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46181371