Here's a summary of the themes expressed in the Hacker News discussion:
The Acquisition of Alex Code by OpenAI
A central theme revolves around OpenAI's acquisition of Alex's code completion tool. Many users expressed curiosity and speculation about the reasons behind this acquisition, with some seeing it as a strategic move to enhance OpenAI's Codex offering for Xcode development.
- "I personally enjoy using Alex code even though I also use claude code and cursor. But saw they will join openAi today, and I am wondering whether this is more like joining openAi without an interview or openAi really believes Alex code is an excellent product and would like to integrate the features into their codex?" - liurenju
- "stoked for this, think it will be great for Codex!" - jshchnz
- "At this rate it’s better to start a company and get aquihired vs applying and getting hired." - CyberMacGyver
However, there's also a sense of disappointment from users who were actively using Alex code, noting the cessation of new feature rollouts:
- "I actually feel a little bit disappointed as they no longer rolls out new features after oct 1st :(" - liurenju
Some also questioned the long-term viability and the justification for the purchase, especially given the existence of competitors like Claude and ChatGPT.
- "Is there a reason why the Claude cannot do the same thing?" - sumedh
- "rm the viability of the app is long term expecially with the power users who pay $200 for it not breaking even since they are still proxying another service (but they did create their own LLM which IMHO was worse than claude)." - zitterbewegung
- "Are they basically buying users here? I agree with the other comments about Claude being better, and now that the new Xcode will ship with a Claude integration I wonder about this." - elpakal
Xcode Project Size and Complexity Debate
A significant portion of the discussion was dedicated to a debate about the perceived size and complexity of iOS projects, sparked by a comment about Alex code being heavily optimized for Xcode with large projects.
- "Alex is heavily optimized for xcode. If you work on an ios project that has more than 700 files, you'll understand how accurate it captures the context." - liurenju
This was met with skepticism and challenges regarding what constitutes a "large" project in iOS development.
- "If your iOS project has more than 700 files... you might be doing it wrong?" - emehex
Others defended the notion of large file counts, citing common project elements like assets, localization files, and intricate app architectures.
- "Bear in mind 600 of those files are icon and screenshot variants for various screen dpis and spec ratios.." - blueboo
- "Translation files, themes, drawables .etc...the list is endless. Even a simple app will easily have a thousand files." - kaptainscarlet
- "Instagram.app likely has 30,000 files for iOS. And it produces 10-figures of revenue. So how is that wrong?" - kridsdale3
- "Most noobs, such as those who think 700 files is too many because they've only worked on apps they never published, might just cram everything into that one file. However, there would be various files for components, functions, etc. Code that's single responsibility and easy to test might mean there are lots of files. There might be upload queues, offline functionality, custom code to go beyond what the ios/android SDKs offer, and so on. DTOs, DAOs, etc. various services.." - moomoo11
The Inevitability of Ads in AI Services
A dominant theme is the concern and discussion around the future of AI services, particularly ChatGPT, incorporating advertisements. Users believe this is an inevitable consequence of the business models for these companies.
- "Expect to see a lot of ads 2 years from now, and expect to see a LOT of money being made by the company a year after that." - kridsdale3
- "Ads on ChatGPT as a way to extract more money from users" - joaogui1
- "I believe consumer AI experiences will feature ads because the profit opportunity is too large and company valuations depend on it." - bobbiechen
- "ChatGPT is already returning lists of products (with photos and rating) saying they are impartial, I guess to collect affiliate fees. It's not a big jump to have sponsored products showing up first." - rjh29
There's a sentiment that while users currently enjoy an "ad-free golden period," this won't last.
- "We’re in a golden period where AI results are ad-free." - rhubarbtree
The discussion explores various forms of advertising, from overt ads to more subtle, integrated affiliate links and sponsored content, with a general consensus that users will eventually tolerate it, much like they have with Google Search.
- "More likely the model will be payment for low friction enablement of transactions rather than overt steering. Pick Door #1: the LLM states the product is fit for purpose. Pick Door #2: the LLM will directly complete the transaction or close to it." - unyttigfjelltol
- "Google's SERP is an ad-infested abomination that sometimes shows useful results, and yet people still use Google Search. The same will happen with LLMs, except in far more subtle and insidious ways." - imiric
- "Are people really going to keep using these AI tools if they start shoving ads down our throats?" - dcchambers
- "Just by the nature of the product, the manipulation will be a lot more subtle, and likely more successful than traditional ads.." - layoric
The Shift Towards Vertical Integration and Vendor Lock-in
Several users commented on the trend of major tech companies, like OpenAI and Apple, moving towards vertical integration and offering more native features. This is seen as a way to bind users closer to their ecosystems and potentially marginalize or acquire smaller startups.
- "In a sense, a lot of what happened with the mobile market. For example, there's no need for a QR scanner or document scanner app anymore, if your phone starts to offer it natively." - gabelschlager
- "Does anyone else remember how we used to have flash light apps all over the playstore and how they quickly varnished once the feature was implement natively?" - kaptainscarlet
- "I have no need for anything other than my ChatGPT subscription, and adding other tools appears to offer marginal gain at double the cost." - tern
The acquisition of Alex code by OpenAI is seen as an example of this, with OpenAI aiming to integrate its capabilities directly rather than relying on third-party tools.
- "The IDE agent companies are dragging an enormous vestigial appendage, and the the scientists at frontier labs are stuck in the next token prediction mindset. This needs a systems engineering approach with online learning from feedback and high throughput optimization experiments run end to end." - CuriouslyC
- "My guess is that the urgency for OpenAI isn't that the Alex team has a 'secret prompt.' It's that they've already done the heavy lifting to make LLM coding assistants actually usable in a domain (Apple platforms) where OAI doesn't have integrations yet. Acquiring them gives OAI: - ready-made team that understands the IDE plumbing and the developer UX at a deep level - head start in a platform ecosystem that's hard to crack 3. team that knows how to push the models into productized, developer-ready experiences So it's not the prompts. It's engineering the scaffolding and UX around the model so it feels like magic to the user. That's what OpenAI is buying." - xwowsersx
The Future of AI Agents and Coding Assistants
The discussion also touched upon the evolving landscape of AI agents and coding assistants. Users debated whether companies like OpenAI and Anthropic would remain model providers or become direct competitors to specialized startups.
- "Still thinking about the endgame. Its not obvious to me if OpenAI/Anthropic will become competitors to coding startups like Cursor or continue to be model providers." - whinvik
- "On_meds: In my view Anthropic is already a competitor to Cursor, while also being a model provider to them. OpenAI has been trying to get into the space with their multiple product offerings all called “codex” but execution has been lacking. So this is very much a play at becoming more competitive in the space." - on_meds
The acquisition of Alex is seen as part of OpenAI strengthening its position in this competitive arena.
- "A coding agent that receives no updates will be useless very soon. In a few months they’ll tell you to switch to Codex CLI, and that will in fact be a good recommendation." - thorum
- "Highly likely the next major Xcode update will break it." - destitude
- "This makes sense, it kinda not super useful once xcode added native AI coding features" - Destiner
The "Acqui-hire" Phenomenon and Talent Acquisition in AI
The trend of startups being acquired, often for their talent rather than just their product, was a recurring theme. Users noted that this "acqui-hire" strategy seems common in the rapidly evolving AI space.
- "At this rate it’s better to start a company and get aquihired vs applying and getting hired." - CyberMacGyver
- "Since time immemorial acquired companies have claimed this sort of thing and then the acquiring companies have shut it down quick. Practically a meme at this point." - MOARDONGZPLZ
- "This tells me that they wont be supporting it forever and at some point will sunset it. I could be totally wrong of course." - codegeek
Some users also speculated about the financial health of acquired companies, suggesting they might have run out of funding.
- "If I had to guess Alex probably ran out of money and after Apple showed off their Xcode AI integrations they couldn't get more funding and shopped around for an acquisition." - robertjpayne