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I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

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Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#51

Post by skydhash »

jml78 wrote: post #17
DanHulton wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that as if it's a justification, not an observation. For one, the world doesn't need to be that way, I.e. We don't need to "leave behind" anyone who doesn't immediately adopt every single piece of new technology. That's simple callousness and doesn't need to be ruthlessly obeyed. And for two, it's provably false. What is "the future?" VR? The metaverse? Blockchain? NFTs? Hydrogen cells? Driverless cars? There…

Dan, Do you have kids? Outside of discipline, and even there, I want to have a positive relationship with my sons. My oldest knows that I am not a writer, there are a ton areas that I can give legit good advice. I can actually have a fun conversation about his stories, but I have no qualifications to tell him what he might want to change. I can say what I like but my likes/dislikes are not what an editor does. I actu…

> LLMs have been trained on likely all published books, it IS more qualified than me.

It has also be trained on worthless comments on the internet, so that’s not a great indicator.

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#53

Post by dragontamer »

sampl3username wrote: post #50
billy99k wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can think that..and you will eventually be left behind. AI is not going anywhere and can be used as a performance booster. Eventually, it will be a requirement for most tech-based jobs.

Left behind what? Consumeristic trash?

Don't you see that the future is XML SOAP RPCs? If you don't master this new technology now, you'll be left behind!!

Then again, maybe I'm too old now and being left behind if I remember the old hype like this....

The entirety of the tech field is constantly hyping the current technology out of FOMO. Whether or not it works out in the future it's always the same damn argument.

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#54

Post by BrouteMinou »

billy99k wrote: post #37
ryeats wrote: post #14

You know that teammate that makes more work for everyone else on the team because they do what they are asked to do but in the most buggy and incomprehensible way, that when you finally get them to move on to another team and you realize how much time you spent corralling them and fixing their subtle bugs and now when they are gone work doesn't seem like so much of a chore. That's AI.

You can think that..and you will eventually be left behind. AI is not going anywhere and can be used as a performance booster. Eventually, it will be a requirement for most tech-based jobs.

When all you got is pontificating...

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#55

Post by ryeats »

billy99k wrote: post #37
ryeats wrote: post #14

You know that teammate that makes more work for everyone else on the team because they do what they are asked to do but in the most buggy and incomprehensible way, that when you finally get them to move on to another team and you realize how much time you spent corralling them and fixing their subtle bugs and now when they are gone work doesn't seem like so much of a chore. That's AI.

You can think that..and you will eventually be left behind. AI is not going anywhere and can be used as a performance booster. Eventually, it will be a requirement for most tech-based jobs.

I was being a bit melodramatic, I'll use it occasionally and If AI gets better it can join my team again I don't love writing boilerplate I just know it's not good at writing maintainable code yet.

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#56

Post by cardanome »

0xEF wrote: post #33
ryeats wrote: post #14

You know that teammate that makes more work for everyone else on the team because they do what they are asked to do but in the most buggy and incomprehensible way, that when you finally get them to move on to another team and you realize how much time you spent corralling them and fixing their subtle bugs and now when they are gone work doesn't seem like so much of a chore. That's AI.

You are not wrong, but I pose the argument that too many people approach Gen AI as a replacement instead of a tool, and therein lies the root of the problem. When I use Claude for code, for example, I am not asking it to write my code. I'm asking it to review what I have written and either suggest improvements or ways to troubleshoot a problem I am having. I also don't always follow its advice, either, but that depen…

Generative AI is like micromanaging an talented Junior Dev that never improves. And I mean micromanaging to such a toxic degree that not human would ever put up with that.

It works but it simply not what most people want. If you love to code then you just abstracted away the most fun parts and have to only do the boring parts now. If you love to manage, well managing actual humans and seeing them grow and become independent is much more fulfilling.

On a side note, I feel like prompting and context management is something that is easier for me personally as a person with ADHD as I am already used to working with forms of intelligence that are different to my own. I am used to having to explicitly state my needs. My neurotypical co-workers get frustrated that the LLM can't read their minds and always tell me that it should know what they want. When it nudge them to give it more context and explain better what they need they often resist and say they shouldn't have to. Of course I am stereotyping a bit here but still an interesting observation.

Prompting is indeed a skill. Though I believe the skill ceiling will lower once tools get better so I wouldn't bank too much on it. What is going to be valuable for a long time is probably general software architecture skills.

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#57

Post by Forgeties79 »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #22

My writing style is pretty labor intensive [0]. I go through a lot of drafts and read things out loud to make sure they work well etc. And I tend to have a high standard for making sure I source things. I personally think an LLM could help with some of this, and this is something I've been thinking about the past few days. But I'd have to build a pipeline and figure out a way to make it amplify what I like about my v…

At its most basic level I just like throwing things I’ve written at ChatGPT and telling it to rewrite it in “x” voice or tone, maybe condense it or expand on some element, and I just pick whatever word comes to mind for the style. Half the time I don’t really use what it spits out. I am a much stronger editor than I am a writer, so when I see things written a different way it really helps me break through writer’s block or just the inertia of moving forward on something. I just treat it like a mediocre sounding board and frankly it’s been great for that.

When I was in high school I really leaned on friends for edits. Not just because of the changes they would make (though they often did make great suggestions), but for the changes I would make to their changes after. That’s what would inevitably turn my papers from a B into an A. It’s basically the same thing in principle. I need to see something written in a way I would not write it or I start talking in circles/get too wordy. And yes this comment is an example of that haha

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#58

Post by bgwalter »

ants_everywhere wrote: post #22

My writing style is pretty labor intensive [0]. I go through a lot of drafts and read things out loud to make sure they work well etc. And I tend to have a high standard for making sure I source things. I personally think an LLM could help with some of this, and this is something I've been thinking about the past few days. But I'd have to build a pipeline and figure out a way to make it amplify what I like about my v…

Michelangelo worked alone on the David for more than two years:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_(Michelangelo)#Process

Maybe later he got lazier. I haven't really heard of famous authors using assistants for drafts instead of research (I don't mean commercial authors like Stephen King).

Even research many authors simply could not afford.

Re: I avoid using LLMs as a publisher and writer

#60

Post by Spooky23 »

ryeats wrote: post #14

You know that teammate that makes more work for everyone else on the team because they do what they are asked to do but in the most buggy and incomprehensible way, that when you finally get them to move on to another team and you realize how much time you spent corralling them and fixing their subtle bugs and now when they are gone work doesn't seem like so much of a chore. That's AI.

Just like a poorly managed team, you need to learn how to manage AI to get value from it. All ambiguous processes are like this.

In my case, I find the value with LLMs with respect to writing is consolidation. Use it to make outlines, not writing. One example is I record voice memos when driving or jogging and turn them into documents that can be the basis for all sorts of things. End of the day it saves me alot of time and arguably makes me more effective.

AI goes bad because it’s not smart, and it will pretend that it is. Figure out the things it does well for your scenario and exploit it.

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