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Grok 4

simonwillison.net

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Re: Grok 4

#73
post #66
post #7

Claude Code converted me from paying $0 for LLMs to $200 per month. Any co that wants a chance at getting that $200 ($300 is fine too) from me needs a Claude Code equivalent and a model where the equivalent's tools were part of its RL environment. I don't think I can go back to pasting code into a chat interface, no matter how great the model is.

I've yet to use an LLM for coding, so let me ask you a question. The other day I had to write some presumably boring serialization code, and I thought, hmm, I could probably describe the approach I want to take faster than writing the code, so it would be great if an LLM could generate it for me. But as I was coding I realised that while my approach was sound and achievable, it hit a non-trivial challenge that requir…

I don’t know if a blanket answer is possible. I had the experience yesterday of asking for a simplification of a working (a computational geometry problem, to a first approximation) algorithm that I wrote. ChatGPT responded with what looked like a rather clever simplification that seemed to rely on some number theory hack I did not understand, so I asked it to explain it to me. It proceeded to demonstrate to itself that it was actually wrong, then it came up with two alternative algorithms that it also concluded were wrong, before deciding that my own algorithm was best. Then it proceeded to rewrite my program using the original flawed algorithm.

I later worked out a simpler version myself, on paper. It was kind of a waste of time. I tend not to ask for solutions from whole cloth anymore. It’s much better at giving me small in-context examples of API use, or finding handy functions in libraries, or pointing out corner cases.

Re: Grok 4

#74
post #48
post #43

I didn't follow the Mechahitler issue can someone explain the technical reasons that it happened? Was grok4 released early or was there a variant model used for @grok posts that's separate from grok4?

It was still Grok 3. Nothing to do with Grok 4, except the timing.

Is there a separate variant / sub-model for @grok vs grok-chat?

Re: Grok 4

#77
post #66
post #7

Claude Code converted me from paying $0 for LLMs to $200 per month. Any co that wants a chance at getting that $200 ($300 is fine too) from me needs a Claude Code equivalent and a model where the equivalent's tools were part of its RL environment. I don't think I can go back to pasting code into a chat interface, no matter how great the model is.

I've yet to use an LLM for coding, so let me ask you a question. The other day I had to write some presumably boring serialization code, and I thought, hmm, I could probably describe the approach I want to take faster than writing the code, so it would be great if an LLM could generate it for me. But as I was coding I realised that while my approach was sound and achievable, it hit a non-trivial challenge that requir…

You can embed these requirements into conventions that systematically constrain the solutions you request from the LLM.

I’ve requested a solution from Sonnet that included multiple iterative reviews to validate the solution and it did successfully detect errors in the first round and fix them.

You really should try this stuff for yourself - today!

You are a highly experienced engineer and ideally positioned to benefit from the technology.

Re: Grok 4

#78
post #66
post #7

Claude Code converted me from paying $0 for LLMs to $200 per month. Any co that wants a chance at getting that $200 ($300 is fine too) from me needs a Claude Code equivalent and a model where the equivalent's tools were part of its RL environment. I don't think I can go back to pasting code into a chat interface, no matter how great the model is.

I've yet to use an LLM for coding, so let me ask you a question. The other day I had to write some presumably boring serialization code, and I thought, hmm, I could probably describe the approach I want to take faster than writing the code, so it would be great if an LLM could generate it for me. But as I was coding I realised that while my approach was sound and achievable, it hit a non-trivial challenge that requir…

This would be a great experiment to run, especially since many frontier models are available for free (ChatGPT doesn't even require a sign-up!) I'd be very curious to find out how it does.

In any case, treat AI-generated code like any other code (even yours!) -- review it well, and insist on tests if you suspect any non-obvious edge cases.

Re: Grok 4

#80
post #73
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've yet to use an LLM for coding, so let me ask you a question. The other day I had to write some presumably boring serialization code, and I thought, hmm, I could probably describe the approach I want to take faster than writing the code, so it would be great if an LLM could generate it for me. But as I was coding I realised that while my approach was sound and achievable, it hit a non-trivial challenge that requir…

I don’t know if a blanket answer is possible. I had the experience yesterday of asking for a simplification of a working (a computational geometry problem, to a first approximation) algorithm that I wrote. ChatGPT responded with what looked like a rather clever simplification that seemed to rely on some number theory hack I did not understand, so I asked it to explain it to me. It proceeded to demonstrate to itself t…

You really can’t compare free "check my algorithm" ChatGPT with $200/month "generate a working product" Claude Code.

I’m not saying Claude Code is perfect or is the panacea but those are really different products with orders of magnitude of difference in capabilities.

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