Look, we can all agree that Scratch hasn't been doing so well lately. Cloud variables are broken, The explore page didn't update for like 3 months, and now we are getting AI in Scratch. Can it get any worse? I honestly don't know. But today I'm going to try and explain my predictions for the future of Scratch, and my thoughts about recent issues. First off, issues with the website itself: 1. The Statistics page hasn't updated since July 2024. 2. Explore page didn't update for over 4 months 3. Search pages don't update 4. Cloud Variables don't work 5. You are able to right click variables and change how they are displayed (Normal, Large, Slider) even when you aren't in the code editor. 6. Instability with saving projects. These are all issues on their own, but with all of them happening together, it's really annoying. The problem is that ST only seems to focus on adding new stuff, instead of fixing what already exists. Now I'm not saying all the new stuff they are adding is bad, but I feel like they should actually fix what already exists on the site before adding more stuff to it. Now, about these AI features… First off, AI is not using artwork from projects. I don't know exactly what the AI is doing, but I have some guesses. One theory is that AI is being trained with code from our projects.This data could then be used to create a helper that could generate code for you, and explain how it works, as well as being able to explain how code from other projects works. Personally, I don't think we need this, but it does sound interesting and kind of useful. HOWEVER, I doubt this will be added anytime in the near future, and here's why: (This quote can be found here btw: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/772692/?page=1#post-8076882) “They (ST) probably won't add AI because 1. Scratch is about education. AI doesn't teach you coding, it just does it for you. 2. Scratch is about creativity. AI isn't creativity. 3. Scratch is a non-profit group, so there's no need for them to join in with adding AI to everything” Ok, then what IS Scratch using AI for? 2. AI powered site moderation. This could definitely help and I would not mind this being added. Although this could help improve moderation, we've seen how some automated moderation tools end up. Scratch's moderation system isn't the best, but human moderation/opinion is ALWAYS better than AI's. We know AI is coming to Scratch, but WHEN? My guess is May 2027 We know that Scratch 4.0 is coming out in 2027, the 20th anniversary of Scratch, as this was mensioned in a job description for ST. But why May? May is the exact month of Scratch's anniversary, so it would make sense to release a new major version then, to celebrate the anniversary. Is anything I said here certain? No. Take everything I've said with a grain of salt. Is this what I want to happen to Scratch? No. AI doesn't belong on Scratch, and it never will.
