I’m SO glad that my wife has tenure
Study mode
81–90 of 828 posts
Re: Study mode
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I learned how to code using the library in the 90s. I think it's accurate to say that if I had to do that again, I'm basically screwed. Asking the LLM is a vastly superior experience. I had to learn what my local library had, not what I wanted. And it was an incredible slog. IRC groups is another example--I've been there. One or two topics have great IRC channels. The rest have idle bots and hostile gatekeepers. The…
>Asking the LLM is a vastly superior experience. Not to be overly argumentative, but I disagree, if you're looking for a deep and ongoing process, LLMs fall down, because they can't remember anything and can't build upon itself in that way. You end up having to repeat alot of stuff. They also don't have good course correction (that is, if you're going down the wrong path, it doesn't alert you, as I've experienced) It…
I used llms to teach me a programming language recently.
It was way nicer than a book.
That's the experience I'm speaking from. It wasn't perfect, and it was wrong sometimes, sure. A known limitation.
But it was flexible, and it was able to do things like relate ideas with programming languages I already knew. Adapt to my level of understanding. Skip stuff I didn't need.
Incorrect moments or not, the result was i learned something quickly and easily. That isn't what happened in the 90s.
Re: Study mode
#83I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…
When ChatGPT came out it was like I had the old Google back. Learning a new programming language used to be mediated with lots of useful trips to Google to understand how some particular bit worked, but Google stopped being useful for that years ago. Even if the content you're looking for exists, it's buried.
And the old ChatGPT was nothing compared to what we have today, nowadays reasoning models will eat through math problems no problem when this was a major limitation in the past.
Re: Study mode
#84Modern day Cliff's Notes. There is no way to learn without effort. I understand they are not claiming this, but many students want a silver bullet. There isn't one.
Cliff notes with a near-infinite zoom feature. The criticism of cliff's notes is generally that it's a superficial glance. It can't go deeper, it's basically a summary. The LLM is not that. It can zoom in and out of a topic. I think it's a poor criticism. I don't think it's a silver bullet for learning, but it's a unified, consistent interface across topics and courses.
Except it generally is shallow, for any advanced enough subject, and the scary part is you don't know when it's reached the limit of its knowledge because it'll come up with some hallucination to fill in those blanks.
If LLM's got better at just responding with: "I don't know", I'd have less of an issue.
Re: Study mode
#85Why do I still feel like I'll be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for my children's education when all they're going to do is all learn through AI anyway.
Because you're not paying for knowledge, you're paying for a paper from respectable university saying that your kid is part of the club.
How about experience - those years of life.
Re: Study mode
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Closed: duplicate Closed: RTFM, dumbass
My favourite moment was when I tried to figure a specific software issue out that had to do with obscure hardware and after hours I found one forum post detailing the solution with zero replies. And it turns out I wrote it myself, years prior and had forgotten about it.
I had a similar experience involving something dealing with RSA encryption on iOS.
Re: Study mode
#87Note the new features coming in the space:
- study mode (this announcement)
- office suite (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openai-designs-rival-office-w...)
- sub-agents (https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/sub-agents)
When they announce VR glasses or a watch, we'd known we've gone full circle and the hype is up.
Re: Study mode
#88I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…
You should always check. I've seen LLM's being wrong (and obstinate) on topics which are one step separated from common knowledge.
I had to post the source code to win the dispute, so to speak.
Re: Study mode
#89I'll personally attest: LLM's have been absolutely incredible to self learn new things post graduation. It used to be that if you got stuck on a concept, you're basically screwed. Unless it was common enough to show up in a well formed question on stack exchange, it was pretty much impossible, and the only thing you can really do is keep paving forward and hope at some point, it'll make sense to you. Now, everyone ba…
>Now, everyone basically has a personal TA, ready to go at all hours of the day This simply hasn't been my experience. Its too shallow. The deeper I go, the less it seems to be useful. This happens quick for me. Also, god forbid you're researching a complex and possibly controversial subject and you want it to find reputable sources or particularly academic ones.
My core problem with LLMs is as you say; it's good for some simpler concepts, tasks, etc. but when you need to dive into more complex topics it will oversimplify, give you what you didn't ask for, or straight up lie by omission.
History is a great example, if you ask an LLM about a vaguely difficult period in history it will just give you one side and act like the other doesn't exist, or if there is another side, it will paint them in a very negative light which often is poorly substantiated; people don't just wake up and decide one day to be irrationally evil with no reason, if you believe that then you are a fool... although LLMs would agree with you more times than not since it's convenient.
The result of these things is a form of gatekeeping, give it a few years and basic knowledge will be almost impossible to find if it is deemed "not useful" whether that's an outdated technology that the LLM doesn't seem talked about very much anymore or a ideological issue that doesn't fall in line with TOS or common consensus.
Re: Study mode
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
But tutors are fine. The video is suggesting that this is an attempt to automate a tutor, not replace Cliff's Notes. Whether it succeeds, I have no idea.
Good tutors are fine, bad tutors will just give you the answer. Many students think the bad tutors are good ones.
> Today we’re introducing study mode in ChatGPT—a learning experience that helps you work through problems step by step instead of just getting an answer.
So, unless you have experience with this products that contradicts their claims, it's a good tutor by your definition.