6 ms·

This projects demonstrates the death of UI. UIs were created for humans to interact with software not for bots to perform tasks. If all you need to provide is y

by mlboss 4y ago

This projects demonstrates the death of UI. UIs were created for humans to interact with software not for bots to perform tasks. If all you need to provide is your text request then we don't need UIs. All softwares can just expose rest/text interfaces and LLM can perform the task for you.

riku_iki 4y ago
Many actions can be made faster and with better precision in UI compared to slow texting with gpt.
- mbil 4y ago
  This is true today, but will it be true in the future where language models are a common interface between human language (probably voice) and software actions? When I go to my bank's website, it's easy for me to find my tax forms. They're usually one or two clicks away in some prominent top-level navigation component. But I would rather converse: "Download tax forms"/"Which ones: A, B, or C"/"The first two"/"Here ya go". And in the future I'd rather say "Hey computer, download my tax forms from my bank and attach them in a draft email to <tax preparer>". And in the later future that I'd rather say "Hey computer, do my taxes", and it will know what sources to gather info from and how to make sense of the numbers and how to file on my behalf. Or better yet, the machine will anticipate I need my taxes done and will kick off that process and solicit approvals and information from me. (Maybe by then the government will just tell me how much I owe ;)) Power users will likely sometimes find utility in dropping down "close to the metal" -- i.e., pointing and clicking and typing. But power users will mostly be composing workflows of models working together to achieve tasks (the term "scripts" will fit nicely). Yes this will be buggy and error-prone, but there will be glue models papering over the errors and trying different things and waiting for outages until the human user's intent is done. Language models are giving us another layer of abstraction over software. Perhaps the final layer, as this one can interact directly with language (which is reified thought). This layer has the ability to cope with the inherent ambiguity of thought by being conversational -- it can ask you to clarify what you mean and gain confidence that it understands your intent.
  - riku_iki 4y ago
    > When I go to my bank's website, it's easy for me to find my tax forms. They're usually one or two clicks away in some prominent top-level navigation component. But I would rather converse: "Download tax forms"/"Which ones: A, B, or C"/"The first two"/"Here ya go". I think this supposedly should be solved by search box on the site, where you enter: "tax forms" and got results with download button.
  - pragmatick 4y ago
    Creating the actions may be easier but parsing / understanding them will often be easier in any format that prose / plain text. I'd rather have a UI with a list of steps and colors and what not than a text I have to read. Take for example the list of steps in the project. They contain a lot of redundant information I have to mentally ignore.
- 93po 4y ago
  Yes, but I would rather the AI determine which actions these are and dynamically generate UI elements for me instead of relying on whatever shithead UI/UX person at LinkedIn wants me to look at to trick me into sharing all of my contact book.
  - riku_iki 4y ago
    I think era of shithead AI is also coming.
    - evilduck 4y ago
      It was trained on the internet. Shithead AI is already lurking beneath the veneer.
    - rurp 4y ago
      Yep. The notion that AIs, funded by companies like Microsoft of all places, is going to lead to a golden age of user interfaces boggles my mind.
      - 411111111111111 4y ago
        To be fair, didn't they actually do that with the UI element it's named after (windows...)? I think the menu bar, the window with the header bar and the action buttons where all pioneered by them back then, or am I mistaken? It's been 30 yrs though, so I get what you mean.
        Jorengarenar 4y ago
        IIRC, Microsoft "borrowed" the design from Apple Macintosh, which in turn was based on Xerox's technology. So no, they weren't the pioneers.
        rurp 4y ago
        That's fair, I think the Microsoft of 30 years ago did pretty well with UIs. That said, given the state of Windows 11 and their other modern products I think their current priorities are quite a bit different.
Zetobal 4y ago
You won't cut off your legs just because you drove a car for the first time.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  But certain countries will build a culture and infrastructure that completely revolves around the car and results in the average citizen walking only 3,000 steps per day [0]. Interfaces will exist because sometimes we need them (walking between your car and the actual destination) and sometimes we like them (just like some people like walking), but just like walking, they may lose massive share. [0]https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/10000-steps/art-20317391#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20walks%203%2C000,a%20day%20every%20two%20weeks https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-dept....
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  Not the best analogy considering that most cars use pedals.
alignment 4y ago
Perhaps the death of UIs for doing basic tasks. UIs for visualizing data will remain for some time.
eshnil 4y ago
More like the death of APIs. If bots can handle UI designed for humans, there's no reason to build and deploy APIs.
bryanrasmussen 4y ago
This project demonstrates the need to automate things that owners of sites don't want you to automate.
manojlds 4y ago
What is the equivalent of captcha in this world
- CSSer 4y ago
  I seem to recall people joking about the irony of bots solving captchas a few years back. No one's laughing now.
jerryzh 4y ago
There was a fascinating (but sadly discontinued) app called Shortcat for MacOS. It basically let you control your entire MacOS with keyboard typing texts. Thus, this can actually be done at larger scale for over 10 years. Update: It turns out the development is resumed again, but I don't use mac anymore.
flarn2006 4y ago
From CLI to GUI and back again.

by mlboss 4y ago

riku_iki 4y ago

Many actions can be made faster and with better precision in UI compared to slow texting with gpt.

mbil 4y ago
This is true today, but will it be true in the future where language models are a common interface between human language (probably voice) and software actions? When I go to my bank's website, it's easy for me to find my tax forms. They're usually one or two clicks away in some prominent top-level navigation component. But I would rather converse: "Download tax forms"/"Which ones: A, B, or C"/"The first two"/"Here ya go". And in the future I'd rather say "Hey computer, download my tax forms from my bank and attach them in a draft email to <tax preparer>". And in the later future that I'd rather say "Hey computer, do my taxes", and it will know what sources to gather info from and how to make sense of the numbers and how to file on my behalf. Or better yet, the machine will anticipate I need my taxes done and will kick off that process and solicit approvals and information from me. (Maybe by then the government will just tell me how much I owe ;)) Power users will likely sometimes find utility in dropping down "close to the metal" -- i.e., pointing and clicking and typing. But power users will mostly be composing workflows of models working together to achieve tasks (the term "scripts" will fit nicely). Yes this will be buggy and error-prone, but there will be glue models papering over the errors and trying different things and waiting for outages until the human user's intent is done. Language models are giving us another layer of abstraction over software. Perhaps the final layer, as this one can interact directly with language (which is reified thought). This layer has the ability to cope with the inherent ambiguity of thought by being conversational -- it can ask you to clarify what you mean and gain confidence that it understands your intent.
- riku_iki 4y ago
  > When I go to my bank's website, it's easy for me to find my tax forms. They're usually one or two clicks away in some prominent top-level navigation component. But I would rather converse: "Download tax forms"/"Which ones: A, B, or C"/"The first two"/"Here ya go". I think this supposedly should be solved by search box on the site, where you enter: "tax forms" and got results with download button.
- pragmatick 4y ago
  Creating the actions may be easier but parsing / understanding them will often be easier in any format that prose / plain text. I'd rather have a UI with a list of steps and colors and what not than a text I have to read. Take for example the list of steps in the project. They contain a lot of redundant information I have to mentally ignore.
93po 4y ago
Yes, but I would rather the AI determine which actions these are and dynamically generate UI elements for me instead of relying on whatever shithead UI/UX person at LinkedIn wants me to look at to trick me into sharing all of my contact book.
- riku_iki 4y ago
  I think era of shithead AI is also coming.
  - evilduck 4y ago
    It was trained on the internet. Shithead AI is already lurking beneath the veneer.
  - rurp 4y ago
    Yep. The notion that AIs, funded by companies like Microsoft of all places, is going to lead to a golden age of user interfaces boggles my mind.
    - 411111111111111 4y ago
      To be fair, didn't they actually do that with the UI element it's named after (windows...)? I think the menu bar, the window with the header bar and the action buttons where all pioneered by them back then, or am I mistaken? It's been 30 yrs though, so I get what you mean.
      - Jorengarenar 4y ago
        IIRC, Microsoft "borrowed" the design from Apple Macintosh, which in turn was based on Xerox's technology. So no, they weren't the pioneers.
      - rurp 4y ago
        That's fair, I think the Microsoft of 30 years ago did pretty well with UIs. That said, given the state of Windows 11 and their other modern products I think their current priorities are quite a bit different.

Zetobal 4y ago

You won't cut off your legs just because you drove a car for the first time.

RC_ITR 4y ago
But certain countries will build a culture and infrastructure that completely revolves around the car and results in the average citizen walking only 3,000 steps per day [0]. Interfaces will exist because sometimes we need them (walking between your car and the actual destination) and sometimes we like them (just like some people like walking), but just like walking, they may lose massive share. [0]https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/10000-steps/art-20317391#:~:text=The%20average%20American%20walks%203%2C000,a%20day%20every%20two%20weeks https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-dept....
anigbrowl 4y ago
Not the best analogy considering that most cars use pedals.

alignment 4y ago

Perhaps the death of UIs for doing basic tasks. UIs for visualizing data will remain for some time.

eshnil 4y ago

More like the death of APIs. If bots can handle UI designed for humans, there's no reason to build and deploy APIs.

bryanrasmussen 4y ago

This project demonstrates the need to automate things that owners of sites don't want you to automate.

manojlds 4y ago

What is the equivalent of captcha in this world

CSSer 4y ago
I seem to recall people joking about the irony of bots solving captchas a few years back. No one's laughing now.

jerryzh 4y ago

There was a fascinating (but sadly discontinued) app called Shortcat for MacOS. It basically let you control your entire MacOS with keyboard typing texts. Thus, this can actually be done at larger scale for over 10 years. Update: It turns out the development is resumed again, but I don't use mac anymore.

flarn2006 4y ago

From CLI to GUI and back again.