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ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

hedgehogreview.com

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Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#111

Post by lm28469 »

keiferski wrote: post #27

These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination. I have gotten so much value out of AI (specifically ChatGPT and Midjourney) that it’s hard to imagine that a few years ago this was not even remotely possible. The difference, it seems, is that I’ve been looking at these tools and thinking how I can use them in creative ways to accomplish a goal - and n…

> These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination.

Either that or different people have different views on life, tech, &c. If you're not going through life as some sort of minmax rpg not using LLM to "optimise" every single aspects of your life is perfectly fine. I don't need a LLM to summarise an article, I want to read it during my 15 min coffee time in the morning. I don't need an LLM to tell me how my text should be rewritten to look like the statistical average of a good text...

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#112

Post by keiferski »

lm28469 wrote: post #111
keiferski wrote: post #27

These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination. I have gotten so much value out of AI (specifically ChatGPT and Midjourney) that it’s hard to imagine that a few years ago this was not even remotely possible. The difference, it seems, is that I’ve been looking at these tools and thinking how I can use them in creative ways to accomplish a goal - and n…

> These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination. Either that or different people have different views on life, tech, &c. If you're not going through life as some sort of minmax rpg not using LLM to "optimise" every single aspects of your life is perfectly fine. I don't need a LLM to summarise an article, I want to read it during my 15 min coffee tim…

That’s perfectly fine, but the article is making a broad statement, not an individual opinion.

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#113

Post by -__---____-ZXyw »

keiferski wrote: post #98
-__---____-ZXyw wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another commenter on here talked about AI's ability to "impress an idiot". I see lots of this. Your usage sounds decidedly unidiotic, and I'm not saying you are an idiot - but it sounds like your view of the criticism is based on the idea that everyone who isn't using it as cleverly as you essentially is an idiot who simply hasn't realised how to get to a "deeper understanding" in the "exploration" of these tools. Pl…

I did read the article and wrote my comment afterward. I didn't find it to be nuanced at all, and the author's description of using LLMs was amateurish at best, which is my point. 30 second sketches also are not nearly as effective as detailed images and would likely have dubious value in implementing the Picture Superiority Effect. Nowhere did I say that people who write essays about AI being useless are idiots. Tha…

I feel like we're talking past each other. In the interest of understanding, this is what I feel like I'm reading from you:

1. In a couple of contexts, as a non-expert, I'm getting excellent use out of these LLM tools, because I'm imaginative and creative in my use of them.

2. I get such great use out of them, as a non-expert, in these areas, that any expert claiming they are gimmicks, is simply wrong. They just need to get more imaginative and creative, like me.

Am I misunderstanding you here? Is this really what you're saying?

The holes in the thinking seem obvious, if I may be blunt. I would suggest you ask an LLM to help you analyse it, but I think they're quite bad at that, as they are programmed to reflect your biases back at you in a positive way. The largest epistemic issue they have is probably that - it is only possible to overcome this tendency to placate the user if the user has great knowledge of their biases, an issue even the best experts face!

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#114

Post by lm28469 »

wiseowise wrote: post #88
mort96 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did they say smartphones and computers are gimmicks?

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/03/when-... https://www.today.com/money/are-smartphones-making-us-lazy-t... Etc., etc.

I don't think you can "fear" something you consider a gimmick. Also good fucking luck arguing smartphones don't have massive negative effects.

If LLMs were even 50% as good as they're pretending to be we'd see huge productivity increase across the board, we simply don't, and it's been almost 3 years since chatgpt was released now. Where is the productivity increase ? Where is the extra wealth generated ?

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#115

Post by -__---____-ZXyw »

1a527dd5 wrote: post #29
danlitt wrote: post #6

It is refreshing to see I am not the only person who cannot get LLMs to say anything valuable. I have tried several times, but the cycle "You're right to question this. I actually didn't do anything you asked for. Here is some more garbage!" gets really old really fast. It makes me wonder whether everyone else is kidding themselves, or if I'm just holding it wrong.

I think it's starting to change. I'm an AI sceptic (and generally disregard most AI announcements). I don't think it's going to replace SWE at all. I've been chunking the same questions both to Gemini and GPT and I'd say about until ~8 months ago they were both as bad as each other and basically useless. However, recently Gemini has gotten noticeable better and has never hallucinated. I don't let it write any code fo…

YoE means "Years of Experience", for anyone interested. I had to look it up, and perhaps I can save a different me some time.

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#116

Post by lm28469 »

keiferski wrote: post #112
lm28469 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination. Either that or different people have different views on life, tech, &c. If you're not going through life as some sort of minmax rpg not using LLM to "optimise" every single aspects of your life is perfectly fine. I don't need a LLM to summarise an article, I want to read it during my 15 min coffee tim…

That’s perfectly fine, but the article is making a broad statement, not an individual opinion.

For the vast majority of people LLMs are deep in gimmick territory, it's the funny thing you use to generate your Ghibli style profile image or the HR email you can't bother writing.

If you not part of a very small subset of tech enthusiasts or companies directly profiting from it it really isn't that big of a deal

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#117

Post by -__---____-ZXyw »

badmintonbaseba wrote: post #44
danlitt wrote: post #6

It is refreshing to see I am not the only person who cannot get LLMs to say anything valuable. I have tried several times, but the cycle "You're right to question this. I actually didn't do anything you asked for. Here is some more garbage!" gets really old really fast. It makes me wonder whether everyone else is kidding themselves, or if I'm just holding it wrong.

I mostly use it as a replacement of a search engine and exploration, mostly for subjects that I'm learning from scratch, and I don't have a good grasp of the official documentation and good keywords yet. It competes with searching for guides in traditional search engines, but that's easy to beat with today's SEO infested web. Its quality seems to vary wildly between various subjects, but annoyingly it presents itself…

I hate the confident obsequious waffling. The cultural origins of the tool is evident.

If you aren't already, I suggest making sure to not forget, every 3-5 prompts, to throw in: "no waffling", "no flattery", "no obsequious garbage", etc. You can make it as salty as you like. If the AI says "Have fun!", or "Let's get coding!", you know you need to get the whip out haha.

Also, "3 sentences max on ...", "1 sentence explaining ...", "1 paragraph max on ...".

Another improvement for me was, you want to do procedure x in situation y, so you go "I'm in situation y, I'm considering procedure x, but I know I've missed something. Tell me what I could have missed". Or "list specific scenarios in which procedure x will lead to catastrophe".

Accepting the tool as a fundamentally dumb synthesiser and summariser is the first step to it getting a lot more useful, I think.

All that said, I use it pretty rarely. The revolution in learning we need is with John Holt and similar thinkers from that period, and is waiting to happen, and won't be provided by the next big tech thing, I fear.

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#118

Post by sincerecook »

keiferski wrote: post #27

These “AI is a gimmick that does nothing” articles mostly just communicate to me that most people lack imagination. I have gotten so much value out of AI (specifically ChatGPT and Midjourney) that it’s hard to imagine that a few years ago this was not even remotely possible. The difference, it seems, is that I’ve been looking at these tools and thinking how I can use them in creative ways to accomplish a goal - and n…

Those are all gimmicks. Normal people don't care about any of that.

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#119

Post by keiferski »

-__---____-ZXyw wrote: post #113
keiferski wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did read the article and wrote my comment afterward. I didn't find it to be nuanced at all, and the author's description of using LLMs was amateurish at best, which is my point. 30 second sketches also are not nearly as effective as detailed images and would likely have dubious value in implementing the Picture Superiority Effect. Nowhere did I say that people who write essays about AI being useless are idiots. Tha…

I feel like we're talking past each other. In the interest of understanding, this is what I feel like I'm reading from you: 1. In a couple of contexts, as a non-expert, I'm getting excellent use out of these LLM tools, because I'm imaginative and creative in my use of them. 2. I get such great use out of them, as a non-expert, in these areas, that any expert claiming they are gimmicks, is simply wrong. They just need…

I said that people making blanket statements about LLMs being gimmicks need to be more creative. Then I listed a couple examples of how I find them useful, with the key point being that I don’t expect perfection.

This isn’t that complicated. Someone wrote an article saying X is a gimmick and made a weak argument. I said no, in my experience that isn’t the case, and here are a few examples.

Your patronizing tone is pretty irritating and distracts from whatever point you’re trying to make. But I’m not sure you’re actually engaging in good faith here, so I think that’s the end of this conversation.

Re: ChatGPT Is a Gimmick

#120

Post by keiferski »

lm28469 wrote: post #116
keiferski wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s perfectly fine, but the article is making a broad statement, not an individual opinion.

For the vast majority of people LLMs are deep in gimmick territory, it's the funny thing you use to generate your Ghibli style profile image or the HR email you can't bother writing. If you not part of a very small subset of tech enthusiasts or companies directly profiting from it it really isn't that big of a deal

No, not really. This stuff is being used everywhere, from universities to offices around the world. It’s far more than a gimmick.
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