The essay was published on October 12, 2026, and expands on a point Hickey, the creator of Clojure, says he usually delivers as a quip. His definition is narrow: a tool is something a person wields, with continuous control and sensory feedback that builds expertise. An LLM fails that test, in his view, because the user makes a request and the system acts alone. He compares it to a drive-thru window and says it is automation that lets people skip writing code. His main worry is lost learning, such as skipping the reading of a paper. A reply on yyhh.org appeared the same day. It accepts that outsourcing work can cost learning opportunities but rejects the conclusion. It points out that compilers and spreadsheets also automate work, yet people still wield them by setting inputs and checking results. Hacker News commenters raised similar objections about books, IDEs and computers. For AI founders, the dispute is about positioning more than semantics. "Copilot" and "tool" framing implies user control and skill growth, while an "automation" framing implies delegation and accountability for outcomes. Developers who share Hickey's concern about lost expertise may want products that keep the user involved in the work instead of replacing it. Buyers may also start asking which of the two a product actually is.