How do people feel about AI being used in the core language?

109 points Adohi-Tehga 195 comments

I know this is Reddit, but I would like to preface this by saying that I'm interested in having a balanced and reasoned discussion with other rustaceans about their feelings regarding AI commits in the core language, and how they think it might impact their choice of programming language in the future.

With that out of the way, how do you feel about Generative AI being used in the core language, and the rust foundation accepting donations from AI companies? Personally, I don't like AI. Not through some aversion to new technology (rust is my language of choice, after all), but because I have no desire to use something with so many unanswered ethical questions (environmental impact, training on stolen data, reinforcement of existing biases etc) in my processes. This is not a binary black and white stance, but a desire to minimize my impact where I can.

Rust has long been my favourite programming language. It's fast, comes out well in energy usage benchmarks, and the compiler makes me feel a lot more confident in the code I write. However, the official position of the rust foundation is very pro AI. They've accepted large donations from OpenAI, and there have now been commits to the core language that have used AI to a certain extent.

This leaves me with a conundrum. Overall, I feel that Generative AI is rapidly making the digital world a worse place (we're drowning in slop) and I want to avoid that as much as I can. Do I stick to an older version of Rust? Do I move to another language like Zig that has an anti-AI stance (impressed by that, not impressed by much else that I've heard from the main developer)? Do I try and fork the language myself knowing that I lack the knowledge or time to do anything more with it than make a statement?

I'm still not decided yet, but would be very curious to hear if others are currently contemplating similar choices, and what your feelings are on the matter.