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I'm Tired of Talking to AI

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Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#501

Post by matheusmoreira »

mcv wrote: post #273
torben-friis wrote: post #60

>But even when I talk to people, they forward my questions to AI and send me the AI’s answer. This is the killer issue. It's so profoundly saddenning, it feels like watching an adult being asked a question and calling mom to answer for them. There is something deeply disturbing in it that makes me feel I'm not talking to a self sufficient entity.

Letting AI answer a personal question for you feels deeply disrespectful to the person asking the question, but also to yourself; you're signalling you don't know anything. If I wanted an AI answer, I could ask it myself. I'm not asking AI, I'm asking you. If you're going to give me an AI answer, it may be the last time I'll ever ask you anything.

> it may be the last time I'll ever ask you anything

I suppose it's possible that was the goal all along...

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#502

Post by kuschku »

simianwords wrote: post #188
xen_relay wrote: post #19

A bit off topic, but I am currently travelling through Europe by train. It is such a boon to just be outside everyday and meet locals and fellow travellers. Highly recommend.

I’m in Europe travelling and AI has been a boon navigating the utterly fragmented public transport. I have been pasting screenshots of NS international to ChatGPT and getting from A to B. I wouldn’t be so confident without ChatGPT I wrote about how ChatGPT can help even more in this space https://simianwords.bearblog.dev/ai-can-fix-the-fragmented-o...

There are already solutions for doing exactly that. e.g., DB's apps allow purchasing tickets for many other countries, and you can find and purchase DB tickets via Google Flights.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#503

Post by SubiculumCode »

torben-friis wrote: post #60

>But even when I talk to people, they forward my questions to AI and send me the AI’s answer. This is the killer issue. It's so profoundly saddenning, it feels like watching an adult being asked a question and calling mom to answer for them. There is something deeply disturbing in it that makes me feel I'm not talking to a self sufficient entity.

These people don't know the answer, but they are trying (generally) to be helpful. The former reality of the article's author would be posting and getting no replies and/or links to the wrong answer you already read.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#504

Post by airstrike »

jvanderbot wrote: post #330
sschueller wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but how many times have people sent someone "let me google that for you". Some people are inherently lazy and unload their laziness to someone else to do the thinking for them. I still think sending someone an AI answer is terrible but then again, if you are going to ask me for help, at least make some effort first. EDIT: By laziness I mean that there are known places (they know of) with documentation that cover…

Tip: The best coworker I ever worked with had the name of a famous italian pop star and worked at JPL and yes this is a roundabout endorsement. He would _always_ say "Let's find out together", and then proceed to find the answer in front of me, doing effectively LMGTFY but in a way that was extremely more helpful (by watching his workflow and allowing questions) and empathetic (by taking time politely and starting fr…

That's a great tip. Thanks for sharing.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#505

Post by [deleted] »

dgellow wrote: post #59
xen_relay wrote: post #19

A bit off topic, but I am currently travelling through Europe by train. It is such a boon to just be outside everyday and meet locals and fellow travellers. Highly recommend.

Hope the heat doesn’t impact your travel plans too much. Feel free to reach out if you’re around Hamburg, always happy to meet HNers

[deleted]

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#506

Post by mwillis »

We’re in a transitional time. A lot of things will feel off until we figure out what “right” feels like. Critiques like this are correct, but correct only for as long as the circumstances stay as they are. Which they won’t.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#507

Post by holden_nelson »

sumanthvepa wrote: post #456
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that most of the people in my circle who are returning AI answers to emails and chat messages do not understand enough about the topic to know whether a question is interesting or not, which parts of the response are interesting, and which parts apply. They seem to think they've more or less solved the problem by posting an LLM's response to the issue or concern I've raised.

But why would ask these people about topics they don't understand? Or they sending you unsolicited responses?

Not the person you’re replying to, but, because I don’t know what they know.

“I don’t really know much about that, go ask _____” is the desired response in that situation

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#508

Post by wccrawford »

saalweachter wrote: post #405
js8 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LMGTFY is an ironic jab, not a suggestion. > if you are going to ask me for help, at least make some effort first It's actually the other way around. You should think what makes you feel they didn't make an effort? Why do you think I am asking - because I think you have a better answer than I can get from Google or AI. But this is where it's apparently going. We will all talk to AI rather than each other. And we will…

I think a lot of people are also missing the value-add of asking a person to Google something for you. Some large fraction of the time when someone asks me a question, I also end up googling it... and then I use my domain knowledge and experience to weed out bad information and outdated information and identify the right references. And some fraction of the time when I ask someone else an "easily Google-able question…

If you're telling them all that and not wasting their time, that's fine.

But if you just ask them the question and don't tell them what you've found or where you got stuck, you're asking them to stop doing what they're doing and spend all that same time you just spent working on your problem.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#509

Post by JTbane »

caidan wrote: post #233

It’s going to turn out that LLM “AI” is one of the inventions like nuclear weapons that can severely regress an advanced civilization. Sometimes it even feels like it is likely to corrupt sentience itself, degrading it into mere cargo cult imitation. After all, if the only one in the room “thinking” is a statistical model of the thought that came before it, how could this be anything other than a dead end. We have a…

For what they are worth, nuclear weapons are still preventing large-scale conflict between world powers.

Re: I'm Tired of Talking to AI

#510

Post by ertgbnm »

jvanderbot wrote: post #172
torben-friis wrote: post #60

>But even when I talk to people, they forward my questions to AI and send me the AI’s answer. This is the killer issue. It's so profoundly saddenning, it feels like watching an adult being asked a question and calling mom to answer for them. There is something deeply disturbing in it that makes me feel I'm not talking to a self sufficient entity.

What I hate about this whole thing, is that there are many reasons someone might reach out to a coworker with questions. Not all require the knowledge in fancy markdown with emojis. Maybe they want to show respect to a person by asking their opinion before proceeding with a change Maybe they want to share context and make that person aware of what they're thinking without being so obvious Maybe they need _that person…

Sending an AI response to a question that someone asks you is insulting because it's a bit like sending them a link to letmegooglethat where it just animates typing the question you have into google.

I think it's only appropriate when you are trying to insult the asker. Like if an employee asks a really dumb question that indicates that they didn't even bother googling the question or asking AI first, then sending them back an AI response is appropriate specifically because it's a bit insulting to do.

In fact it does exist for gpts: https://letmegpt.com/

Personally, If I'm asking for help it's because I've surely exhausted other avenues of approach like googling it or asking chatGPT. I've come to the person because I need their input specifically. The people I work with are professional enough and I've developed such a relationship with them that I don't have the problem the OP is discussing very much.

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