Sigh... I think it’s time to address some recent controversy.
For the past few months, I've been experimenting with AI coding agents to familiarize myself with this new programming paradigm. The result of that experiment is the samloader-rs project.
I chose "Samsung firmware downloading and flashing" because the problem space is small and self-contained compared to something like Magisk. It’s also genuinely useful to me; none of the existing tools fit my exact needs.
Regardless of what you think of the codebase, actual engineering work went into this. I reverse-engineered the LZ4 data transmission by myself because I didn’t know the brokkr-flash project existed at the time. With no code or docs to reference, I pulled out Ghidra for the first time. I’m the first to admit I’m an assembly noob, so my approach definitely has flaws.
And yes—99% of the code in samloader-rs was written by AI. I have never tried to hide this! But every single commit was reviewed, tested, and tightly guided by me. I drove the development and purposely delegated only the "coding" part to the agents.
The Samsung firmware scene is new to me, and I used AI to catch up to speed so I could make tangible progress. It’s not perfect; AI cannot replace years of human research.
However, seeing people use my learning curve and my use of AI to completely discredit my contribution to this project—and worse, use it to discredit my legacy on Magisk—is incredibly disheartening. I’m just trying to learn, build, and share in an area completely new to me.
I built Magisk on the shoulders of many existing open-source efforts, and today, forks and derivative projects stemming from it are flourishing. To me, open source has always been about learning. It’s deeply saddening to feel discouraged from doing exactly that, simply because I used AI as a tool.
Balancing a full-time job and starting a new family in a foreign country means real life takes a toll, and free time is incredibly sparse. Without these new AI tools, dedicating the time and effort required to dive into a brand-new area of interest would be nearly impossible.
To be honest, I kinda regret open-sourcing samloader-rs. It exposed my lack of knowledge on a new topic and thrust me right into the middle of the AI coding controversy. 🫤
We are proud to celebrate our 75 year anniversary.
Part of that celebration includes the revival of #SuperPUMA and release of our avatar NFT collection
A 🧵 on mint details below:
Nach dem Spiel ist man wirklich froh Schalker zu sein und es steht fest: Die Fans von Dortmund sind die, die am meisten überschätzt werden. Die meisten Fans letztes Jahr in der 2.Liga waren stärker als das was die heute geboten haben #S04BVB#S04
Aufsteiger & Meister - der FC #Schalke ist wieder da, wo er hingehört. 🔵⚪
Macht's gut da oben in der @Bundesliga_DE, liebe Freunde von @s04. Wir hoffen, wir sehen uns bald mal wieder in Liga 1. 🙏
#fcn#S04#SchalkeUndDerFCN
Trainers, anlässlich der Alola-Jahreszeit und des Community Day mit Velursi belohnen wir einen glücklichen Trainer mit einer Reise für zwei Personen nach Hawaii! 🏝️🥳
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