How do you all feel about the use of AI tools for building Elixir/Phoenix projects, with respect to these topics? Longform context below. I get a strong sense of enthusiasm for these tools and the creativity they can bolster from this community, which is great ~ what’s harder to come by are discussions that range beyond the practical applications of these tools, from folks writing from a personal viewpoint (not a longform blog, which have become hard to take at face value on both sides of the discussion these days).

Thank you for anything you’d like to share.

• LLMs behind these tools likely trained on data taken from OSS authors without their permission, and without attribution ~ do the benefits of these tools for OSS outweigh this?

• LLM-driven-development may make it harder for the less-experienced among us (myself included, when it comes to Elixir/Phoenix) to learn our craft and build valuable experience ~ this is highly individualistic, but industry forces and corporate influences cannot be ignored when it comes to the pressures on the budding software dev in 2025.

I know there are other areas of ethical complexity with these tools, but these are the two I’d like to focus on for now. I’m less interested in debate here; mostly just looking for a solid set of data points from members of the community. All thoughts and opinions are welcome.

~

Hi all, I’m passionate coder, tinkerer, and creator who’s spent a couple decades of their career focused on web dev through JS (now TS) and professionally, Python on the backend ~ it just keeps happening.

I have a strong interest in and alignment with OSS ideals, even having had the opportunity and satisfaction of making a few notable contributions myself over the years.[1] I’ve experienced the frustration and joy of pouring hours into OSS project maintenance, fixing bugs reported by eager (occasionally annoyed) folks using your project, for no real reason you can explain to yourself other than “it’s kind of fun.”

Over the last two years, I’ve nurtured a voyeuristic passion for Elixir and Phoenix ~ probably a result of all too much time spent working with JS-fueled hacks- I mean frameworks- intended to paper over limitations of the web platform. I guess one could describe Phoenix Liveview this way, but as someone who’s lived and breathed most of what JS has to offer, I’ll say this websocket-centric approach feels like the right way to hack the limited capabilities of the browser into something new. It’s truly incredible, and I dream of being so lucky as to work professionally with these tools someday.

Last year I had the pleasure of working through George Arrowsmith’s excellent Phoenix course[2] with the twist of interpreting the HEEx into Temple[2] for fun. This might be controversial, but it felt to me like the best medium for expression of UI I’ve ever witnessed ~ sometimes you just gotta try something because it seems cool. The results of that experiment can be found below[4] if anyone is interested. I even had some fun and built a couple of Hex packages in the process[5][6] though progress has slowed since then (becoming a parent; its own set of challenges/adventures).

I’ve sensed a lot of enthusiasm for AI-driven software tools in the Elixir community of late, which mirrors the strong enthusiasm that seems to be taking hold across our field. I have no commentary here ~ to each their own and like most of us (I assume) I’m just trying to adapt to the increasing levels of change around us with as healthy an approach as I can figure out how. My natural tendencies have led to a natural skepticism of AI, but I also put high value on an open mind and supporting the creativity of others’ through whatever methods they personally find to be the most enriching.

I haven’t personally used LLMs much in my professional work, but pressure to do so is definitely increasing by the month (and even week). My small company has an upcoming “AI Hackathon” where I had an idea – combine my interests with those of leadership, and take the opportunity to go all-in on AI tools to rebuild part of our product using LiveView. I’m sure I won’t learn as much about Elixir & Phoenix as I would building the old-fashioned way ~ or maybe I’ll learn more, who knows! In any case, I only have a week.

Repeating my intro paragraph from the start, I’d like to know ~ how do you all feel about the use of AI tools for building Elixir/Phoenix projects, with respect to these topics?

• LLMs behind these tools likely trained on data taken from OSS authors without their permission, and without attribution ~ do the benefits of these tools for OSS outweigh this?

• LLM-driven-development may make it harder for the less-experienced among us (myself included, when it comes to Elixir/Phoenix) to learn our craft and build valuable experience ~ this is highly individualistic, but industry forces and corporate influences cannot be ignored when it comes to the pressures on the budding software dev in 2025.

I know there are other areas of ethical complexity with these tools, but these are the two I’d like to focus on for now. I’m less interested in debate here; mostly just looking for a solid set of data points from members of the community. All thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Thank you for anything you’d like to share, and for all contributions you’ve made to this vibrant and welcoming community. Learning through lurking here has been a blast, and your effort and enthusiasm for these tools over the years has made this amazing ecosystem what it is today.

~

[1] GitHub - evnp/tmex: Lightweight tmux cmd/layout composer · 1 shell script · 0 dependencies exc. tmux · GitHub
[2] https://learnphoenixliveview.com/
[3] GitHub - mhanberg/temple: An HTML DSL for Elixir and Phoenix · GitHub
[4] cocktails.coffee/lib/cc_web/live/realms_live/world_map.ex at main · evnp/cocktails.coffee · GitHub
[5] regex_formatter | Hex
[6] unique_words_sigil | Hex