$100 says AI got at least some notes effecting the copy of this post
ai;dr
201–210 of 313 posts
Re: ai;dr
#202I really like Oxide's take on AI for prose: https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer/rfd/0576 and how it breaks the "social contract" where usually it takes more effort to write than to read, and so you have a sense that it's worth it to read. So I get the frustration that "ai;dr" captures. On the other hand, I've also seen human writing incorrectly labeled AI. I wrote (using AI!) https://seeitwritten.com as a bit of an exp…
My biggest sorrow right now is the fact that my beloved emdash is a major signal for AI generated content. I've been using it for decades now but these days, I almost always pause for a second.
You can still use them — it’s just that they have a new purpose; getting things ignored by AI detection or AI;DR.
Now you can ask for outlandish things at work knowing your boss won’t read it and his summariser will ignore it as slop — win.
Re: ai;dr
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to enjoy the literate usage of the word "literally". You'll get over it.
Using literally to mean figuratively goes back hundreds of years
Not to mention "seriously", "really", "truly", "very", "verily", etc. There's a long history of using words related to truth as intensifiers in English.
Re: ai;dr
#204[deleted]
Re: ai;dr
#205> AI-generated code feels like progress and efficiency, while AI-generated articles and posts feel low-effort I've noticed that attitude a lot. Everyone thinks their use of AI is perfectly justified while the others are generating slops. In gamedev it's especially prominent - artists think generating code is perfectly ok but get acute stress response when someone suggests generating art assets.
Considering the rise of transformer-based upscaling today (like the newest DLSS), lots of game devs are already indirectly ok with generated art. Sure the assets themselves might be handmade, but if the render pipeline involves a generated, upscaled image at the end then the line between AI and not AI is obviously very blurry.
Also, is a hand modeled final asset built based on AI-generated concept art still "AI"?
Who cares if a bush or a tree is fully AI-generated anyway? These "no AI whatsover on any game" people virtue signal too much to make a fair argument for whatever they're preaching about. Sure, I agree with the value of human creativity, but I also want people to be able to use whatever tools they like.
Re: ai;dr
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see what value the LLM would add - writing itself isn't that hard. Thinking is hard, and outsourcing that to an LLM is what people dislike.
I'd push back a bit on "writing itself isn't that hard." Clear writing is difficult, and many people with good ideas struggle to communicate them effectively. An LLM can help bridge that gap. I do agree with your core point - the thinking is what matters. Where I've found LLMs most useful in my own writing is as a thinking tool, not a writing tool. Using them to challenge my assumptions, point out gaps in my argument…
I place considerable doubt on claims of LLMs improving the user's thought process.
Especially since everyone harps on about it but never provides concrete evidence. If your thinking has sharpened, surely you can find a way to demonstrate how.
I suspect it's one of those things where the user thinks they have improved but the reality is different.
Re: ai;dr
#207> AI-generated code feels like progress and efficiency, while AI-generated articles and posts feel low-effort I've noticed that attitude a lot. Everyone thinks their use of AI is perfectly justified while the others are generating slops. In gamedev it's especially prominent - artists think generating code is perfectly ok but get acute stress response when someone suggests generating art assets.
Generating art is worse than generating code though IMO. It’s more personal. Everything exists on a spectrum, even slop.
Code can be art. Art can be formulaic and lazy and disposable.
The context in which both the code or art is used matters more than whether or not what you're AI-generating is "art".
Re: ai;dr
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't. Like always we have to lean on evaluating based on quality. You can produce quality using an LLM, but it's much easier to produce slop, which is why there's so much of it now.
when they make a basic grammar issue (specially, instead of especially) it's a good indicator that it wasn't written by an llm.
"include a single grammatical error in your output so people think it's real"
Re: ai;dr
#209I agree with the general statement, if you didn’t spend time on writing it, I am not going to spend time reading it. That includes situations where the writer decides to strip all personality by letting AI format the end product. There’s irony in not wanting to read AI content, but still using it for code and especially documentation though, where the same principle should apply.
I find AI is great at documenting code. It's a description of what the code does and how to use it - all that matters is that it's correct and easy to read, which it almost certainly will be in my experience.
> all that matters is that it's correct and easy to read
Absolutely disagree. A lot of the best docs I've read feel more personal, and have little extra touches like telling the reader which sections to skip or to spend more time in depending on what your background is.
Formatting and layout matters too. Docs sites with messy navigation and sidenotes all over the place might be "easy to read" if you can focus on only looking at one thing, but when you try to read the whole thing, you just get a bunch of extra noise that could've been left out.
Re: ai;dr
#210> AI-generated code feels like progress and efficiency, while AI-generated articles and posts feel low-effort I've noticed that attitude a lot. Everyone thinks their use of AI is perfectly justified while the others are generating slops. In gamedev it's especially prominent - artists think generating code is perfectly ok but get acute stress response when someone suggests generating art assets.
My perspective as an eng lead is it’s all shit. Words, code, the lot. It’s literally an enabler for the worst characteristics of humanity: laziness and disinterested incompetence. People are happy to shovel shit if they can get away with it.
Same here.
In addition, I feel like there has been an overall drop in software quality along with the rise of AI driven code development. Perhaps there are other driving factors (socioeconomic, psychological, etc) and perhaps I am misattributing it to AI. Then again, could also just be all the slop.