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Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
121–130 of 140 posts
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#122Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, in the worst case scenario we wind up with basically nobody having jobs. I mean, when humanoid robots get sufficient dexterity, they can even come for the skilled trades folks as well, as far as that goes. Look, I don't know if any of this is actually going to to come to pass or not. But it seems at least a little bit less like pure sci-fi now than it did a decade or two ago. Anyway, if we play along with the th…
> in the worst case scenario we wind up with basically nobody having jobs Call me optimistic or whatever, but isn't that the best case scenario? If having a full-time job is basically just for the 0.1% or whatever, then we must have figured out a different way of distributing goods and solving peoples needs, that doesn't involve "trading time for money" (a job), and that sounds like it can be a good thing, not "worst…
> Call me optimistic or whatever, but isn't that the best case scenario?
Fair enough. I should have said "worst case, in the context of the system (as it is today) where a job is the primary way we have of gaining income to support ourselves (food, housing, clothing, etc)".
So yeah, if the day comes when nobody has jobs AND we can work out a social/economic system that doesn't leave people destitute and starving in the streets, then it could be the "best case". I'm just not sure how we get there, at the moment.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
We live in a system the prioritizes profits over everything. > Call me optimistic or whatever, but isn't that the best case scenario? The gains of technology are mostly captured by those with capital, not those with labor. Look at wage growth over the last few decades as well as productivity growth to have confirmation. There’s no reason to believe given the current trend that benefits will be evenly distributed to t…
> We live in a system the prioritizes profits over everything. Right, but in this hypothetical future where "basically nobody have a job", would we still live in such a system? If so, where do the money come from if people don't work for it?
Yeah, that's sort of what I was getting at when I said
> it really leads one to wonder what kind of economic system(s) we'll have
It's not clear how a future economy works if nobody has a job. If nobody has a job, how do they acquire food, shelter, clothes, etc? And if people don't have money to buy "stuff" then what need is there for factories to produce "stuff", or stores to sell "stuff" and so on? So does economic output just drop to zero? Or near zero?
Of course there are proposals around UBI and what-not and maybe one or more of those is the answer (if all of this comes to pass in the first place). But it seems to me that there are still a lot of questions to answer.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#125Tools. You don’t need to be an EE and IC expert to use a computer effectively.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#126Tools. And read their output. You will save time, be more productive, and actually learn something.
Don't read and you'll not learn and get things wrong.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
agree on this point, like web3 and blockchain is not essential as of today (CMIIW). However not in the case of AI (agentic AI / LLM), because simply they already have a use case, and a valid one. Contextual query and document searching / knowledge digging will be there to stay, either in form of current agentic model or different one.
We already had text search, and I don't see the value in adding a bullshittifier on top of that.
Many people do. I can't imagine ever going back to opening ten tabs for a question. It's not like information on the internet was bullshit-free pre-LLMs. For me, it's easier to verify information than to find it.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#128Maybe I'm too late to the party, but here are my 2 cents.
AI/LLMs for web dev is like StackOverflow on steroids. Was it worth learning the model of SO site, or Google, in order to become a good dev? I guess, no.
LLMs jobs in this analogy are like becoming search engine developer. Completely different area, and different career, I guess.
To upgrade a CV and just skills, I would suggest learning another backend language, like Go or Rust, if they're not on your CV already. I chose Rust, and it boosted my understanding of what's happening in code. You may also choose Go, and offer speed boosts for Python/JS backend code, as many employers are more willing to use it than Rust. I hesitated to do that, and turned out, I was wrong, and I could have offered impressive speed boosts at one of my jobs, where background jobs would work for hours.
This can be any tech that is near, but feels like beyond a barrier, and people hesitate trying it.
As for other jobs - take a look at college/uni teaching: it brings status (if you do it more, even tangible titles), and boosts social network, which will yield crops in 5-15 years.
Another thing is something that requires certification. This is what people hesitate to try or fail at tests. Jobs protected by certificates are supposedly more secure. And learning as an adult is much cooler, because now you've seen yourself learn stuff on your own and can apply methods to the process.
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
We already had text search, and I don't see the value in adding a bullshittifier on top of that.
Many people do. I can't imagine ever going back to opening ten tabs for a question. It's not like information on the internet was bullshit-free pre-LLMs. For me, it's easier to verify information than to find it.
And what does your verification process look like then, if it somehow doesn't involve doing any research yourself anyway?
Re: Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?
#130LLMs is a subset of sequence learning which is a subset of ML which is a subset of AI. But even in the LLM subset the field is so deep and vast that you can only learn one small subset. It's a subset of a subset of a subset of a subset of a ... You get the idea. Do you like math? Then pick one subset. Do you like hardware? Pick another.