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Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
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Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#342I've had many, but a recent one was when I figured I'd try asking Claude for help with my attempts at learning to draw, specifically anatomy. I uploaded one of my sketches and asked for feedback, expecting it to not be too useful, but it actually pointed out many issues that no one had ever pointed out to me, but perfectly explained some of the things that felt off to me. Out of curiosity I then also asked it to labe…
That's super interesting! What sort of feedback? Anatomical feedback ("Uhh, that's not where arms go...") or drawing (like tips on shading etc...)?
It pointed out that the shoulders were too rounded and the perspective was incorrect for them, making it seem like the arm was just appearing out of the torso. It pulled up images to explain that I wasn't correctly indicating the deltoid's presence. This helped me understand why I felt that the shoulder was hard to distinguish from the torso.
I also asked for help on how to make my posing less stiff and it used the Python script trick to roughly indicate the line of action and how they were very straight and parallel and to reduce stiffness I should have more curves etc.
This wasn't really at the point where I even asked for shading advice.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#343I won’t deny they are useful tools, but the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months set the expectation so high that I’m still in the “fancy auto-complete” camp. It still feels nowhere close to replacing anyone, at least where I work. While useful, they haven’t been anywhere close to as useful as promised. Hallucinations and poor guidance are still a regular day-to-d…
> the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months
Just keep in mind that you're likely hearing from a limited subset of all tech CEOs.
"CEO Expresses Moderate Confidence that AI Can Enable Modest Productivity Gains" is not an article that gets written, because it would not generate clicks.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#344I bought an Alesis QS8.1 super cheap in perfect condition (was a top grade digital piano/synth in the 90s). and then i realized that ALL of the software (which i collected from defunct websites and archived on github) related to it was ancient and after a while of getting tired of using WINE every single time i decided i wanted a cross platform modern equivalent that did everything that several of these different pro…
Yes, those tools are extremely good at reverse engineering. With a bit of know how, it is now trivial to reverse engineer any protocol or crack any software, often in a matter of hours or less.
A lot of people in the industry have vested interests in this not being discussed openly so you don't hear too much about it, but the implications are huge.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#345Earlier quoted context omitted.
Neat, but I'd bet it was "guessing" that rather than actually seeing it.
If it’s “guessing” correctly 95% of the time, is that meaningfully different from “seeing” it for most practical purposes?
I just mean that the image input probably didn't affect the output at all. Could have just told it "I'm an amateur doing bulbs and batteries and it doesn't work" and it would give the #1 search result on forums for that which is "did you strip your wire."
I feel like I'm in the audience at a magician show, except most of the audience is breathlessly amazed and doesn't understand how easily tricked they are.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#346I won’t deny they are useful tools, but the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months set the expectation so high that I’m still in the “fancy auto-complete” camp. It still feels nowhere close to replacing anyone, at least where I work. While useful, they haven’t been anywhere close to as useful as promised. Hallucinations and poor guidance are still a regular day-to-d…
> I won’t deny they are useful tools, but the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months set the expectation so high that I’m still in the “fancy auto-complete” camp. Why would someone else's unrealistic assessment affect your assessment of the actual abilities you see? Seems like your opinion is mostly politics-based
The expectation confirmation theory[0].
Someone else’s unrealistic assessment frame expectations, especially when they are attempting to speak from a place of authority, which they were. When reality doesn’t meet or exceed those expectations it creates disappointment. The expectations they set were impossibly high.
This is a pretty common thing. I’m sure we’ve all been disappointed by a movie or restaurant that a friend hyped up endlessly, which really didn’t live up to the expectations that were set. It’s the same deal here.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expectation_confirmation_theor...
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#347I won’t deny they are useful tools, but the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months set the expectation so high that I’m still in the “fancy auto-complete” camp. It still feels nowhere close to replacing anyone, at least where I work. While useful, they haven’t been anywhere close to as useful as promised. Hallucinations and poor guidance are still a regular day-to-d…
> I won’t deny they are useful tools, but the hyperbole from the tech CEOs about them replacing all white collar workers in 12-18 months set the expectation so high that I’m still in the “fancy auto-complete” camp. Why would someone else's unrealistic assessment affect your assessment of the actual abilities you see? Seems like your opinion is mostly politics-based
This is not uncommon when becoming disillusioned with something that has been hyped up and forced upon you for an extended period.
The fatigue of the product (and sting of false promises) causes the negatives to overshadow anything positive to say.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#348The announcement of GPT 3, hands down. That's the day that my mind was blown.
Everything after that has been (genuinely significant) incremental improvements. But that announcement was a qualitative step up: we got ""real"" AI that day, something that could pass a Turing test (as common sense envisioned it, without all the caveats added once we learnt of the genuine limitations of LLMs).
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#349I could go on and on, but Claude recently decompiled the firmware of my camper van, documented all the CAN interfaces, then programmed an ESP32 module to talk to the van’s integrated systems (power, HVAC, lighting, tanks). That sort of embedded systems integration is completely out of my wheelhouse. I honestly don’t understand AI naysayers. I use Claude every day both professionally as a Solution Architect and person…
> projects I simply could not have ever approached alone. I think that's part of the divide between enthusiasts and naysayers. If you use GenAI on things that you couldn't approach alone, it's an incredible tool. If you use it on stuff that you're pretty good at, it's not a gamechanger (and if you're an expert, it's a minor boost at best). Many people's job are about doing what they're an expert at.
And in a team setting it can really accelerate tech debt especially if used by people that know just enough to be dangerous.
Re: Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?
#350I bought an Alesis QS8.1 super cheap in perfect condition (was a top grade digital piano/synth in the 90s). and then i realized that ALL of the software (which i collected from defunct websites and archived on github) related to it was ancient and after a while of getting tired of using WINE every single time i decided i wanted a cross platform modern equivalent that did everything that several of these different pro…
Hey so... mind sharing findings?
I have a QS8 :)