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I suppose I should have been more specific. I can believe people will be using this. I'm just not yet seeing how it will make things net better. So yes, academi

I suppose I should have been more specific. I can believe people will be using this. I'm just not yet seeing how it will make things net better. So yes, academic cheaters will surely be trying to use it, although we'll see whether they actually succeed. But continuing with your analogy, I'll note that the people who fight financial crimes and fraud have absolutely had to integrate responses to cryptocurrencies. That didn't prove that there was lasting value to the cryptocurrency hype wave.

simonw 4y ago
I used it to release some software that used AppleScript to export data from Apple Notes, starting from zero knowledge of AppleScript two hours earlier: https://til.simonwillison.net/gpt3/chatgpt-applescript https://til.simonwillison.net/gpt3/chatgpt-applescript
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- wpietri 4y ago
  Thanks for the example. I will note that you didn't use it for most of the coding. And that looking at your code, you also seem perfectly capable of figuring out the AppleScript if you had wanted to. In an amount of time that would not have wildly increased the total project time. So overall, this looks very "stone soup" to me. Did it get you over a hump? Surely. Did it actually contribute much in terms of code? Not from what I see in your script.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    Not op, but this seems like a particularly weird take... I do support work myself, and our developers have a function that is broken and shoving too much stuff into the database. This crap is compiled into a DLL so I can't do anything about directly. Went to GPT and said "hey, I have a table named X, when Y updates write a trigger that deletes this" In a few seconds it dumps out a working trigger. Now, I've never written one of these before, dong SQL stuff isn't really my forte, but with a basic understanding of what I needed done I got working code with an explanation faster than I could parse the how to. Even if AI doesn't contribute more than that, for lots of use cases it's more than enough.
    - wpietri 4y ago
      Sure, I totally believe you found it valuable, and it's great that it helped you solve your problem. As with simonw, it sounds like it got you over a hump. One you could have gotten over on your own, but maybe you didn't want to or couldn't take the time. But in both cases, what GPT coughed up was a dead end in development terms. It's not like you could just ask it to fix your app or to replace your app. This sort of reminds me of the 3d-printing hype cycle. People were very excited! We could make any object! We could soon be 3d-printing 3d printers! But in practice, 3d printing is now mostly useful for small, marginally valuable stuff. That's not nothing; I have friends who are excited about their 3d printers. But I also have friends who are excited about woodworking and accordion playing and falconry. But none of these are particularly world-changing.
      - simonw 4y ago
        Aha! Yeah I see where you're coming from now. There's a huge amount of hype around this stuff which is completely unjustified: it's not going to replace programmers! It's (hopefully) not going to put vast numbers of people out of work. My interest in it is this: given this (flawed) technology exists, what are the things we can use it for that are genuinely useful and help us build interesting things that we may not have built before? I've been finding an increasing number of areas where it gives me a 10-30% productivity boost... and a few areas like the above one where that tips me from "not going to do that project" to "doing that project". Those are what's exciting to me, far away from the breathless hype around this stuff.
        wpietri 4y ago
        Yes, exactly. This article is about how Google wants to put this into everything. "A new internal directive requires 'generative artificial intelligence' to be incorporated into all of its biggest products within months." I think a lot of people are skipping the "what are the things we can use it for that are genuinely useful" step. Glad to see people actually doing that, so thanks for explaining further.
  - simonw 4y ago
    I absolutely would not have created that project if I had to spend several frustrating hours trying to figure out AppleScript in order to get started. So in this case the leg-up that GPT gave me was the difference between the project existing and it not existing at all.
    - wpietri 4y ago
      I get that. But for these sort of "stone soup" use cases, it's not really a technology for creating software. It's a technology for helping people manage feelings. That's surely a valuable thing, but that's very much not what it's being sold as.
travisjungroth 4y ago
> I can believe people will be using this. You should start believing people are using this. People are comparing LLM hype to crypto and VR hype and that’s really not accurate. Those are both always in a state of “someone is using it now, and a ton of people will use it in the future”. ChatGPT is in a state of “a ton of people are using it now”. It would remind me of the explosion of social networking, except it doesn’t have network effects! It’s crazy how much it’s getting used by all sorts of people not because they want to interact with their friends (messaging apps) but just because they want to use it. I was a big AI and even just generally ML doubter until I started using it as part of my workflow and reading about how other people are, too. At that point, you kinda have to update your priors.

simonw 4y ago

I used it to release some software that used AppleScript to export data from Apple Notes, starting from zero knowledge of AppleScript two hours earlier: https://til.simonwillison.net/gpt3/chatgpt-applescript https://til.simonwillison.net/gpt3/chatgpt-applescript

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wpietri 4y ago
Thanks for the example. I will note that you didn't use it for most of the coding. And that looking at your code, you also seem perfectly capable of figuring out the AppleScript if you had wanted to. In an amount of time that would not have wildly increased the total project time. So overall, this looks very "stone soup" to me. Did it get you over a hump? Surely. Did it actually contribute much in terms of code? Not from what I see in your script.
- pixl97 4y ago
  Not op, but this seems like a particularly weird take... I do support work myself, and our developers have a function that is broken and shoving too much stuff into the database. This crap is compiled into a DLL so I can't do anything about directly. Went to GPT and said "hey, I have a table named X, when Y updates write a trigger that deletes this" In a few seconds it dumps out a working trigger. Now, I've never written one of these before, dong SQL stuff isn't really my forte, but with a basic understanding of what I needed done I got working code with an explanation faster than I could parse the how to. Even if AI doesn't contribute more than that, for lots of use cases it's more than enough.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    Sure, I totally believe you found it valuable, and it's great that it helped you solve your problem. As with simonw, it sounds like it got you over a hump. One you could have gotten over on your own, but maybe you didn't want to or couldn't take the time. But in both cases, what GPT coughed up was a dead end in development terms. It's not like you could just ask it to fix your app or to replace your app. This sort of reminds me of the 3d-printing hype cycle. People were very excited! We could make any object! We could soon be 3d-printing 3d printers! But in practice, 3d printing is now mostly useful for small, marginally valuable stuff. That's not nothing; I have friends who are excited about their 3d printers. But I also have friends who are excited about woodworking and accordion playing and falconry. But none of these are particularly world-changing.
    - simonw 4y ago
      Aha! Yeah I see where you're coming from now. There's a huge amount of hype around this stuff which is completely unjustified: it's not going to replace programmers! It's (hopefully) not going to put vast numbers of people out of work. My interest in it is this: given this (flawed) technology exists, what are the things we can use it for that are genuinely useful and help us build interesting things that we may not have built before? I've been finding an increasing number of areas where it gives me a 10-30% productivity boost... and a few areas like the above one where that tips me from "not going to do that project" to "doing that project". Those are what's exciting to me, far away from the breathless hype around this stuff.
      - wpietri 4y ago
        Yes, exactly. This article is about how Google wants to put this into everything. "A new internal directive requires 'generative artificial intelligence' to be incorporated into all of its biggest products within months." I think a lot of people are skipping the "what are the things we can use it for that are genuinely useful" step. Glad to see people actually doing that, so thanks for explaining further.
- simonw 4y ago
  I absolutely would not have created that project if I had to spend several frustrating hours trying to figure out AppleScript in order to get started. So in this case the leg-up that GPT gave me was the difference between the project existing and it not existing at all.
  - wpietri 4y ago
    I get that. But for these sort of "stone soup" use cases, it's not really a technology for creating software. It's a technology for helping people manage feelings. That's surely a valuable thing, but that's very much not what it's being sold as.

travisjungroth 4y ago

> I can believe people will be using this. You should start believing people are using this. People are comparing LLM hype to crypto and VR hype and that’s really not accurate. Those are both always in a state of “someone is using it now, and a ton of people will use it in the future”. ChatGPT is in a state of “a ton of people are using it now”. It would remind me of the explosion of social networking, except it doesn’t have network effects! It’s crazy how much it’s getting used by all sorts of people not because they want to interact with their friends (messaging apps) but just because they want to use it. I was a big AI and even just generally ML doubter until I started using it as part of my workflow and reading about how other people are, too. At that point, you kinda have to update your priors.