ADSP: Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs Episode 253: Sean Parent on AI and Cursor
Sep 26, 2025
Sean Parent, a senior principal scientist at Adobe, has played a pivotal role in developing Photoshop and its mobile versions. He dives into how AI has transformed documentation processes, sharing his iterative approach to reviving old docs with AI assistance. The conversation explores Cursor's features, including user interface improvements and the challenges of freezing bugs. They also discuss the implications of model memory in workflows, the economics of different AI providers, and the desire for more integrated AI functionalities in daily tasks.
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Two-Decade Documentation Rescue
- Sean used a large prompting and iterative process to rebuild ASL docs that hadn't compiled in 20 years.
- He burned through a month's CLAWD4 tokens in a few hours but restored and improved the documentation.
Tackle Big Bugs In Phases
- Iterate with the model: break the work into phases, validate often, and fix categories of errors systematically.
- Ask the model to propose categories, pick one, and solve it before moving to the next.
AI Lowers The Barrier To Hard Tasks
- AI acts like a collaborator that lowers the barrier to tackle low-value, high-effort tasks.
- That collaborator lets you explore more problems you otherwise would avoid.