Why Can I Easily Find Code Optimizations That Frontier LLMs Overlook?

oyacaro · x · 2026-09-17

A developer describes a recurring pattern: LLMs fail at his optimization tasks, yet when he suggests a direction, the model enthusiastically agrees — and the idea genuinely works and performs much better. Despite not being a top engineer, he routinely spots improvements frontier models miss, and wonders what exactly he brings to the table. The post touches on sycophancy and the human's real value in AI-assisted coding.

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