Yoav Goldberg pushes back on DHH: an agent-built Qt markdown editor isn't a path to personal Photoshop

yoavgo · x · 2026-09-04

Researcher Yoav Goldberg criticized DHH's claim on the Lex Fridman podcast that building Omawrite (a markdown editor in C++/Qt with AI agents) proves people can build their own versions of Photoshop. Goldberg called the statement "kinda crazy," noting Omawrite is essentially a thin wrapper around the Qt text editor component — far from the engineering complexity of Photoshop. In a follow-up he added that DHH surely knows this, given his software expertise. The exchange highlights a common leap in AI coding optimism: agents speeding up simple wrapper apps doesn't mean complex desktop software is within everyone's reach.

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