Goalposts

Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?

2024 Februarywakawaka28

About whether AI could cheaply rewrite legacy software in memory-safe languages.

Within another couple years, automated systems that are descendants of today's rapidly-advancing coding-assistant LLMs will be able to do amazing things.

Yeah I'll believe it when I see it. If humans struggle to figure out what these systems are supposed to do, no AI is going to figure it out.

Hundreds of billions of dollars is a lowball estimate on what it would take to rewrite it all in Rust.

AI rewrites legacy software into memory-safe code with verified drop-in compatibility, figuring out what the original systems are supposed to do.

Has this happened?

Yes 77 (63%)Not sure 18 (15%)No 28 (23%)

Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.