by _se | 2026-01-06 18:19:52+00:00
It's always fun to ask Opus what it thinks about articles like this. Here's what I got with no history or system prompt:

https://burkeholland.github.io/posts/opus-4-5-change-everyth...

Read this article and ultrathink critically about it. Provide your perspective.

The article makes a strong experiential case for improved velocity in AI-assisted development but contains several argumentation weaknesses and conflations worth examining.

The projects described are legitimately non-trivial: Firebase backend integration, Facebook OAuth, iOS apps in Swift (a language the author doesn't know), GitHub Actions pipelines, scheduled cloud functions. Getting these working in hours rather than weeks represents a real capability shift. The author is honest about his limitations and uncertainties, particularly the security concerns.

Where the argument breaks down:

1. "Replace developers" vs "dramatically augment developers"
The author's own workflow contradicts the headline claim. He's still:

Making architectural decisions (choosing Firebase)
Handling errors Opus couldn't see (XAML via Visual Studio)
Writing custom prompts to shape output quality
Manually auditing security
Making product and UX decisions

This is developer work. The tool changed; the role didn't disappear.

2. The 80% security confidence undermines his thesis
He admits he's shipping apps with "80% confidence" in security and calls it "too damn low." This is the crux: the AI accelerated production but didn't replace the judgment required to responsibly ship production software. The velocity gain exposed a competence gap rather than closing it.

3. Sample bias in project selection

All examples are:

Greenfield (no existing codebase)
Single developer
Personal/family use
Standard patterns with excellent documentation (Firebase, SwiftUI, React Native)
No regulatory, compliance, or scale requirements
No team collaboration or handoff considerations

These constraints define a specific problem space where AI excels. Extrapolating to "developers are replaceable" ignores the majority of professional software work.

4. "Code doesn't need human readability" is underbaked
His argument is circular: "Why optimize for human readability when the AI is doing all the work?" But:

His 80% security confidence exists because he can't read the code
He had to use external tools (VS) when Opus couldn't diagnose errors
What happens when context windows are exceeded and the LLM loses track?
Model behavior changes between versions; human-readable code is version-agnostic

The custom prompt he shares actually encodes many good engineering practices (minimal coupling, explicit state, linear control flow) that benefit LLMs and humans. The "no comments needed" claim conflates what's optimal for LLM regeneration with what's optimal for debugging production issues at 3am.
What's actually being demonstrated

The honest version of this article would be: Opus 4.5 dramatically compresses the gap between "can write code" and "can ship a personal app" for a specific class of greenfield projects. That's genuinely transformative for hobbyists, indie developers, and people solving their own problems.
But that's different from "replacing developers." The article demonstrates a power tool; power tools don't eliminate tradespeople.