Reflections on AI at the End of 2025 • Hacker News Board

Re: Reflections on AI at the End of 2025

#381

Post by mrwrong » Thu, Dec 25, 2025, 3:04 PM UTC

threethirtytwo wrote: post #352

mrwrong wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a technical sense you are a stochastic parrot. I am not. I'm sorry you feel this way about yourself. you are more than a next token predictor

If I am more than a next token predictor… doesn’t that mean I’m a next token predictor + more? Do you not predict the next word you’re going to say? Of course you do, you do that and more. Humans ARE next token predictors technically and we are also more than that. That is why calling someone a next token predictor is a mischaracterization. I think we are in agreement you just didn’t fully understand my point. But th…

> But the claim for LLMs are next token predictors is the SAME mischaracterization. LLMs are clearly more than next token predictors. Don’t get me wrong LLMs aren’t human… but they are clearly more than just a next token predictor.

it's simply not. I find this argument by analogy very lazy. you need to do the work to show what that "and more" is and how it's the same for humans and LLMs. you can't just hand wave that it feels the same and leave it at that

Re: Reflections on AI at the End of 2025

#382

Post by sixtyj » Mon, Dec 29, 2025, 1:03 PM UTC

etra0 wrote: post #127

LLMs have certainly become extremely useful for Software Engineers, they're very convincing (and pleasers, too) and I'm still unsure about the future of our day-to-day job. But one thing that has scared me the most, is the trust of LLMs output to the general society. I believe that for software engineers it's really easy to see if it's being useful or not -- We can just run the code and see if the output is what we e…

Adults can cope somehow... But what about children? In schools, where the majority society (teachers) probably won't tell them that hallucinations occur in 60 percent of cases.

What will they grow up to be?

I compare it to the situation before Google - with Google.

Sure, we function somehow as a society... but still, I am worried.

Re: Reflections on AI at the End of 2025

#383

Post by Joel_LeBlanc » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 10:30 PM UTC

It's fascinating to see how AI is reshaping the landscape for digital assets—buying websites or e-commerce stores has become more accessible than ever. When evaluating potential investments, I always stress the importance of thorough due diligence; I've found that using tools like DREA (Digital Real Estate Analyzer) can really streamline the process and provide valuable insights. It's all about understanding the numbers and the potential for growth, especially in such a dynamic environment. What specific metrics are you focusing on?