For all the talk of AI Slop, I don’t hear much about the fact that we have been suffering from Outsourced Slop for decades now. I suspect that is how this kind of thing also fail at LinkedIn. I say that based on my experience dealing with outsourcing companies and the product they produce through outsourced programmers.
It’s really just been a similar problem as with AI code, that without strong and competent management that can set intelligent expectations and requirements and test for them, you will surely get what appears to all the business and leadership types like an equivalent product, without any sense that it’s slop underneath the surface.
I'm on board with the cheap offshore and bad incentives motiv, but feel this has to be augmented with a mention of the senior cowboy coder (who just went into retirement). Most likely in the future these stereotypes will be joined by vibe coders and AI-powered juniors, but as someone working this industry for a couple of decades give or take - we've learned how to deal with these by now.
I've seen coworkers at Big Tech Co™ make huge security blunders despite attending prestigious universities (Berkeley, Stanford, etc) and having 5+ years of industry experience. No LLM slop required. Just rushing to meet deadlines while requirements shift rapidly enough that details get overlooked.
It’s really just been a similar problem as with AI code, that without strong and competent management that can set intelligent expectations and requirements and test for them, you will surely get what appears to all the business and leadership types like an equivalent product, without any sense that it’s slop underneath the surface.