My work hired a contractor for a problem I didn’t have time to do.
The contractor sent me 3 markdown files written by Claude (complete with gibberish ascii diagrams) which:
- Rephrased the detailed statement of work I sent, but this time with broken ascii art diagrams. I included a sequence diagram, so the ASCII art helped nothing.
- Copied the output spec as the solution (it’s the api the solution has to fit, not the solution)
- Then added one more option labelled ‘the “better solution”’ (with the quotes in the title, as if Claude itself don’t think it was better), which did not actually meet any of the requirements. It described this one as “vastly superior”.
Honestly, he should have asked a mushroom for help.