Why not demand that code be accompanied by comments that describe the solution at a higher level of design abstraction? Perhaps also a justification of design choices, and comparison with similar implementations in off-the-shelf libraries?
> which part of it reflects their genuine opinion and intellect (which I'd be hesitant to criticize) and what is AI-fluff I can rip apart without stepping on their toes?
Are you able to ask them this directly? They might appreciate it.
3. Does it fill an immediate business need? Then Ship it. Most code is slop anyways, even before AI era. Otherwise, it's an unjustified continuous maintenance burden - drop it.
Remember all your competitors are also using AI slop. You're in good company...
Why not demand that code be accompanied by comments that describe the solution at a higher level of design abstraction? Perhaps also a justification of design choices, and comparison with similar implementations in off-the-shelf libraries?
10 Find one tiny error somewhere
20 Post something like "I found this error, but I have no time now. I'll review the rest later."
30 Wait until they fix the tiny error
40 GOTO 10
Edit: Similar idea from Joel Spolsky, in the old good times when there was no AI. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/12/25/getting-things-don...
If you're the author/core maintainer of the codebase, well the norm is to ignore the PR entirely. But thank them for the improvement idea/bug report.
If you're just one of the people with commit access, probably your regression testing setup is due.
> which part of it reflects their genuine opinion and intellect (which I'd be hesitant to criticize) and what is AI-fluff I can rip apart without stepping on their toes?
Are you able to ask them this directly? They might appreciate it.
Some options:
1. "Your PR is bad and you should feel bad"
2. Use AI to reject the PR
3. Does it fill an immediate business need? Then Ship it. Most code is slop anyways, even before AI era. Otherwise, it's an unjustified continuous maintenance burden - drop it.
Remember all your competitors are also using AI slop. You're in good company...
Here's a take: Consider a new job that doesn't involve (A)uto(I)nfantillization. You're destroying humanity.