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Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

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Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#141

Post by auctoritas »

dual_dingo wrote: post #32

The "I" in AI is just complete bullshit and I can't understand why so many people are in a awe of a bit of software that chains words to another based on some statistical model. The sad truth is that ChatGPT is about as good an AI as ELIZA was in 1966, it's just better (granted: much better) at hiding its total lack of actual human understanding. It's nothing more than an expensive parlor trick, IMHO. Github CoPilot?…

I'm more fatigued by people denying the obvious that ChatGPT and similar models are revolutionary. People have been fantasizing about the dawn of AI for almost a century and none managed to predict the rampant denialism of the past few months.

I suppose it makes sense though. Denial is the default response when we face threats to our identity and sense of self worth.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#142

Post by brookst »

exegete wrote: post #102
thejammahimself wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Github CoPilot? Great, now I have to perform the most mentally taxing part of developing software, namely understanding other people's code (or my own from 6 months ago...) while writing new code. I'm beyond thrilled ... I think there's an argument to be made that AI is being used here to help you tackle the more trivial tasks so you have more time to focus on the more important, and challenging tasks. Albeit I rec…

I think the parent’s comment is probably referring to the fact if you use Copilot to write code then you have to go through and try to understand what it wrote and possibly debug it. And you don’t have the opportunity to ask it why it wrote it the way it did when reviewing its code.

I think you’re right, but that just means parent doesn’t understand copilot and is off tilting at windmills.

Copilot is amazing for reducing the tedium of typing obvious but lengthy code (and strings!). And it’s inline and passive; it’s not like you go edit -> insert -> copilot function and it dumps in 100 lines of code you have to debug. Which is what it sounds like parent is mistaking it for.

I’m reminded of 1995, when an elderly relative told me everything wrong with the internet based on TV news and not having ever actually seen the internet.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#143

Post by sharemywin »

dual_dingo wrote: post #32

The "I" in AI is just complete bullshit and I can't understand why so many people are in a awe of a bit of software that chains words to another based on some statistical model. The sad truth is that ChatGPT is about as good an AI as ELIZA was in 1966, it's just better (granted: much better) at hiding its total lack of actual human understanding. It's nothing more than an expensive parlor trick, IMHO. Github CoPilot?…

I'm sorry I don't want it to get much smarter.

It you ask it to go through and comment code it does a pretty good job of that.

some things better than others(not that great at CSS)

need a basic definition of something. got it.

tell it to write a function it's not bad.

As a BA just tell it what your trying to do and what questions it should ask users. It will get some good ideas for you.

Want it to be a PM have create a loop asking every 10 minutes if your done yet.

Is it a senior engineer? no. can it pass a senior engineering interview? quite possibly.

debug code hit or miss.

I think the big thing it's not that great at front end code. It can't see so that probably makes sense. a fine-tuned version of clip that interacted with a browser would probably be pretty scary.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#144

Post by brookst »

BulgarianIdiot wrote: post #97
dual_dingo wrote: post #32

The "I" in AI is just complete bullshit and I can't understand why so many people are in a awe of a bit of software that chains words to another based on some statistical model. The sad truth is that ChatGPT is about as good an AI as ELIZA was in 1966, it's just better (granted: much better) at hiding its total lack of actual human understanding. It's nothing more than an expensive parlor trick, IMHO. Github CoPilot?…

“It’s just statistics” is an evergreen way to dismiss AI. The problem is you’re also just statistics.

Shh. The models don’t like hearing that.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#145

Post by reportgunner »

goolulusaurs wrote: post #130

There is a lot of negativity towards the idea of AI in this thread, and I feel like someone has to say it: it is quite likely that in the near future computers will be better than almost all humans at almost all cognitive tasks. If you have a task or are trying to accomplish something, and the way you do it is by moving a mouse around or typing on a keyboard then it is very likely that an AI will be able to do that t…

> If you have a task or are trying to accomplish something, and the way you do it is by moving a mouse around or typing on a keyboard then it is very likely that an AI will be able to do that task.

You don't need AI to move a mouse around or type on a keyboard. A simple automation is enough.

The value is not in moving a mouse or typing on a keyboard. The value is in knowing when and where to move the mouse and when and what to write on the keyboard.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#147

Post by fsloth »

People are loud, that is the nature of public discourse. Ignore the noise. Focus on the things you find personally interesting - if they are lindy proof it does not hurt (this includes maths, science, any fundamental computational problem like ray tracing for example). Use new stuff you personally find interesting or usefull.

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#148

Post by flumpcakes »

AI leaves a bad taste in my mouth but I think it is because we have moved away from ML/Vision problems with a strong background in academic research, and high impact and purposeful development of these into products.

We are now exposed to companies hyping huge general purpose models with whatever tech is the latest fad, which resonates with the average person who wants to generate memes, etc.

This is impressive only at the surface level. Take a specific application: prompting it to write you an algorithm, outside of any copying-and-pasting from a textbook these models will generate bad/incorrect code and then explain why it works.

It's like having an incompetent junior on your team who has the bravado of a senior 10x-er.

That's not to say "AI" doesn't have a purpose, but currently it seems just hyped up by sales people looking for Series-A funding or an IPO cash-out. I want to see the models developed for specific tasks that will have a big impact, rather than the slight-of-hand or circus tricks we currently get.

Maybe that time is passed, and general models are the future and we will just have to wait until they're as good as any specific model that was built for any task you can ask of it.

It will be interesting what happens when these "general" models are used without much thought and their unchecked results lead to harm. Will we still find companies culpable?

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#149

Post by traceroute66 »

dual_dingo wrote: post #32

The "I" in AI is just complete bullshit and I can't understand why so many people are in a awe of a bit of software that chains words to another based on some statistical model. The sad truth is that ChatGPT is about as good an AI as ELIZA was in 1966, it's just better (granted: much better) at hiding its total lack of actual human understanding. It's nothing more than an expensive parlor trick, IMHO. Github CoPilot?…

> The "I" in AI is just complete bullshit and I can't understand why so many people are in a awe

I agree.

And the worst thing is that the bullshit hype comes round every decade or so, and people run around like headless chickens insisting that "this time its different", and "this time its the REAL THING".

As you say, first(ish) there was ELIZA. Than this that and everything else. Then Autonomy and all that dot-com era jazz. Now with compute becoming more powerful and more compact, any man and his dog can stuff some AI bullshit where it doesn't belong.

I have seen comments below on this thread where people talk about "well, it's closing the gap". The thing you have to understand is that the gap will always exist. Ultimately you will always be asking a computer to do something. And computers are dumb. They are and will always be beholden to the humans that program them and the information that you feed them. The human will always have the upper hand at any tasks that require actual intelligence (i.e. thoughtful reasoning, adapting to rapidly changing events etc.).

Re: Ask HN: Is anyone else getting AI fatigue?

#150

Post by washadjeffmad »

There probably a koan for it, but separate the commercial from the noncommercial.

I'm excited for these emerging technologies, but I don't care about any of the products people want to sell based on them. I've spent the past 27 years developing zero-effort self-filtering against spam and hucksters, so I'm not even aware of any AI startups, just as I can't tell you the names of any Bitcoin exchanges. That's just not in my sphere, and I'm not missing out.

Hunker down and have fun. It's incredibly accessible, and you likely have more than you need to get started making it work for you.

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