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Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
31–40 of 62 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#32How do you know if these LLMs are stating facts instead of hallucinating? Also, where would these things learn about new topics?
>How do you know if these LLMs are stating facts instead of hallucinating? At runtime. When trying to do something I know is even slightly unusual I don't even bother with ChatGPT and friends.
What works in a toy example doesn't necessarily scale / handle corner cases.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even at runtime I don't trust the results worth much. A large part of the act of programming is identifying and handling corner-cases. You never manage to handle EVERY corner case, and the missed ones result in frustrating debugging sessions. But a competent programmer can cover enough cases up front that the time spent debugging is manageable. But when I see people say things like "Look! I used GPT to write a functi…
So tell the LLM you want it to handle corner cases and it will add code to handle them. It can also generate unit tests for those corner cases. LLMs have fundamentally changed programming. There's still skill required to do it well, but we're a long ways from Borland TurboC on DOS.
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Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#34Less ChatGPT, more YouTube. Barring the population trying to study languages formally through a course, a lot of people use YouTube courses and video-content.
OFC, if video makes tech publishing obsolete, then it would've made it obsolete a decade ago.
A more realistic expectation is to divide learners into readers, video consumers, course-takers, etc. ChatGPT could integrate into any of those workflows, albeit with varying results. If using an AI becomes as second nature as watching a video, it might have some effect.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
So tell the LLM you want it to handle corner cases and it will add code to handle them. It can also generate unit tests for those corner cases. LLMs have fundamentally changed programming. There's still skill required to do it well, but we're a long ways from Borland TurboC on DOS.
That doesn't work. It can't think through corner cases, because LLMs don't think. They aren't actually synthesizing or revising anything.
The reason people are so excited about it is because they see it work (yes, this includes whatever edge case you came up with five seconds ago - they can think too). No amount of theorised "oh they just do this thing and they don't have Qualia" is going to change reality: The model does something that people find use in.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
>How do you know if these LLMs are stating facts instead of hallucinating? At runtime. When trying to do something I know is even slightly unusual I don't even bother with ChatGPT and friends.
What works in a toy example doesn't necessarily scale / handle corner cases.
In my experience, ChatGPT is better at managing corner cases than your normal SO or book example.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#37Ban AI.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#38Writing a book on a topic is an art unto itself. Even most technical books have a coherent narrative, carefully crafted to bring the reader from point A to point B. If you want a quick reference on a well-known topic, then sure, use an LLM. Or a search engine. Chances are it will even answer you correctly (but also chances are it won't, and if it is a new topic for yourself - strap in, you're in for a ride). But if y…
Agreed completely. LLMs are making the quick jot to Stack Overflow obsolete, which solves your immediate problems using the least amount of brainpower. They are also making reference-style documentation and long-form books more important than ever, since you still need to learn things and correct your own knowledge biases.
LLMs are making the quick jot to Stack Overflow obsolete
Not for me they're not.
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed completely. LLMs are making the quick jot to Stack Overflow obsolete, which solves your immediate problems using the least amount of brainpower. They are also making reference-style documentation and long-form books more important than ever, since you still need to learn things and correct your own knowledge biases.
LLMs are making the quick jot to Stack Overflow obsolete Not for me they're not.
For most people they are though
Re: Ask HN: Is ChatGPT making tech publishing obsolete?
#40They’re different modes of learning and IMO the published format’s not likely to completely dissapear but it will get impacted heavily for sure, same way video chipped away a big part from its profitability.