Most people outside of tech that I know haven't really heard of ChatGPT aside from in passing in a news piece or something. And those that have heard of it have no idea what it actually is.
Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
441–450 of 755 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#442From the outside, I’ve never seen a smaller professional circle with grander claims.
Crypto was more mixed from my recollection, a bit less ivory tower as the tech isn’t that complex, and very prominent people in the tech itself werent so readily making huge claims.
I’m seeing tech leaders saying things that make me concerned, like engineers saying Bard was sentient.
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#443I live in Japan and have been surprised by how much coverage there has been of ChatGPT in the mass media here during the past few months. Popular awareness seems to be increasing quickly, too. Here are some results of a survey conducted by Line Research [1, in Japanese]: Question: Do you know about ChatGPT? If yes, have you used it? (n = 1056 in both March and June) March 2023 Know about it and have used it: 4.8% Kno…
There was a similar survey conducted by Pew in the US [1]. From the results in May, 58% of Americans have heard of ChatGPT.
[1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/24/a-majorit...
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#444Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everywhere?? That’s exactly the hype talk that’s going to burst this bubble. Here’s tech’s dirty little secret. Despite all the screams about automation and universal basic income… the exact numbers where job replacement would show are in the labor productivity numbers. If GDP stays flat or grows while the number of jobs is reduced… bingo… you’d see that number climb. Productivity has actually stayed flat or gone dow…
The missing productivity paradox is something that should interest everyone in tech! Like any macroeconomic observation, there is plenty of uncertainty in both the measurements (GDP ain't perfect) and the context (2 financial crises and a pandemic). But even pro-status-quo institutions like Brookings agree that Something Is Up. Their 2021 review on the topic is both a decent summary and a good source of further refs…
How do those distinct lifestyles" match with rising inequality and people having a hard time buying a house or paying rent?
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#445I see more people outside of tech talking about it than within tech.
Within tech the biggest constraint I'm seeing is a failure of our imagination on how this tech could be used, so far we've limited our interactions to that which we've been shown... chat bots, and if that's all we can imagine then this is definitely a hype cycle.
But when I speak to those outside of tech, who are not constrained to imagine what they've seen, then I see and hear much different things. It's not the second coming, it's not going to make the whole world redundant, but it is a change and for the most part non-tech people seem more eager to get there. At least, I'm surrounded by positive people who seem to hope that the most mundane aspects of our lives will be replaced by AI and will lead to some qualitative improvement of life (ignoring the cost of living crunch presently hitting most of them).
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#446All you can get in a survey like this is anecdotes and opinions. This may be sufficient for your purposes - here's my story:-) My sister is not technically minded. She has used chatgpt to create a request for permit for a backyard deck to city Hall, a letter to her boss requesting attendance to a conference, and her performance reviews. Another non techie and I use chatgpt to help us learn French and music theory. My…
How do you know that the French and music theory it’s teaching you is correct?
It has been my experience that for things that may be slightly or very obscure, and/or controversial/uncertain, and/or with limited # of sources, and/or when pushed into complex dialogue or tricky questions, chatGPT can really muck things up.
At the same time, when asked simple, clear and basic questions, on topics where there are myriad of resources, that agree with each other, it's very very very useful.
I'm not learning either French nor Music theory solely from ChatGPT of course; I use it to supplement and explore. As such, it's proven to be in the top 5%+ of patient & knowledgeable tutors/instructors I've ever had (or to put it another way, my piano teachers have been WAY more wrong, WAY more often about music theory than ChatGPT - we all take risks :)
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#447I asked Google's Bard and ChatGPT4.0. They both said, "No. Don't worry." So I'm good.
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#448Definitely. The tech is impressive but anyone I've spoken to thinks of it as Cleverbot 2.0, and among the more technically minded I've found that people mostly are indifferent. Hell, IRL most people I know don't think much of it, though on HN and elsewhere online I see a lot of people praising it as the next coming of Christ (this thread included) which puts it in a similar tier as crypto and other Web3 hypetrains as…
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Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#449Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everywhere?? That’s exactly the hype talk that’s going to burst this bubble. Here’s tech’s dirty little secret. Despite all the screams about automation and universal basic income… the exact numbers where job replacement would show are in the labor productivity numbers. If GDP stays flat or grows while the number of jobs is reduced… bingo… you’d see that number climb. Productivity has actually stayed flat or gone dow…
Maybe you live in a monolinguistic bubble, or speak every language fluently, but when is the last time you hired a human being to translate a language you don't understand instead of using AI like Google Translate? AI is already so ubiquitous and useful that you blindly take it for granted without even thinking.
> when is the last time you hired a human being to translate a language you don't understand instead of using AI like Google Translate?
Last year, for an important letter that had to be written in Japanese, a language that I don't know. Using Google Translate for that was unthinkable, because Google Translate is pretty poor and I had no way of checking and correcting the translated text.
Re: Ask HN: Are people in tech inside an AI echo chamber?
#450Disclaimer: Entirely layperson opinion.
We already had AI in our daily lives, such as translation, object recognition, voice assistant, spam filter, fraud detection systems and a lot more.
Most of these are old and boring and yet deeply embedded in our daily life.
The hype bubble is on the new LLM and generative art AI tech, which are backed by a lot of money, so a lot of hype is generated. Without hype, corporations can’t sell us on novelty but once their pockets are filled, they exit and these eventually cool down when something new comes along.
However, with each novelty, we are usually left with some bits and pieces of useful residual tech that gives us a little improvement on our daily life, so every hype leaves with something useful.