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Original: Simon Willison · 12/02/2026

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Summary

In my post about my Showboat project I used the term ‘overseer’ to refer to the person who manages a coding agent. In my post about my Showboat project I used the term “overseer” to refer to the person who manages a coding agent. It turns out that’s a term tied to [slavery and plantation management](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantations_in_the_Ame

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Key Insights

“In my post about my Showboat project I used the term ‘overseer’ to refer to the person who manages a coding agent.” — Willison explains the original terminology used in his Showboat project.
“It turns out that’s a term tied to slavery and plantation management. So that’s gross!” — Willison shares the reason for changing the term from ‘overseer’ to ‘supervisor’.

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Topics

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Full Article

# Supervisor, not overseer
Author: Simon Willison
Published: 2026-02-12
Source: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/12/supervisor/#atom-everything
In my post about my Showboat project I used the term “overseer” to refer to the person who manages a coding agent. It turns out that’s a term tied to slavery and plantation management. So that’s gross! I’ve edited that post to use “supervisor” instead, and I’ll be using that going forward.

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Key Takeaways

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Notable Quotes

In my post about my Showboat project I used the term ‘overseer’ to refer to the person who manages a coding agent.
Context: Willison explains the original terminology used in his Showboat project.
It turns out that’s a term tied to slavery and plantation management. So that’s gross!
Context: Willison shares the reason for changing the term from ‘overseer’ to ‘supervisor’.
  • [[topics/ethical-considerations-in-ai]]
  • [[topics/ai-agents]]
  • [[topics/language-and-terminology]]

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Originally published at https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/12/supervisor/#atom-everything.