5 ms·

What do you use it for? I'm assuming code related? I've found it useful for some boilerplate + writing tests and making some script and some documentation. I'm

What do you use it for? I'm assuming code related? I've found it useful for some boilerplate + writing tests and making some script and some documentation. I'm curious what you or others that use it all day use it for especially if it's not for programming?

japhyr 4y ago
I was just working on a small exploratory project in Python. I used sys.argv because it's so quick to prototype with. When I started refining the project for longer term development, I wanted to convert the CLI to use argparse, so I could build a more nuanced CLI. I gave GPT a couple example commands I wanted to use, and in less than a minute I had a fully converted CLI that did exactly what I wanted, with more consistent help settings. I can do that work, but it would have been 30-45 minutes because there was one setting in argparse I hadn't used before. That alone was worth this month's $20. For more complex and mature projects I could see having to give GPT a minimum working example of what I need instead of the whole project, but I can already see how it will enhance my current workflows, not replace them.
- cultureswitch 4y ago
  See, a better LLM or an experienced human would have told you to use docopt instead of argparse and saved you more time in the long run.
simonw 4y ago
There are some examples of code things I've done with it here: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-or-help-on https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-... In terms of non-code things, here are a few from the past couple of days: - Coming up with potential analogies to explain why it's OK to call something a "language" model even though it doesn't have actual understanding of language - Exploring outliers in a CSV file (I was playing with the new alpha code interpreter, where you can upload a file and have it run and execute Python to evaluate that file) - Asking some basic questions about GDPR cookie banners - Figuring out if there are any languages worldwide where "Artificial Intelligence" translates to something that doesn't include the word "Intelligence" (found some good ones: Finnish translates to "Artificial wit", Swahili to "Artificial cunning") - Understanding jargon in a tweet about payment services - I wanted to know the difference between a "payment aggregator" and a "merchant acquirer" - As a thesaurus, finding alternatives to "sanctity" in the sentence "the sanctity of your training data" - Fun: "Pretend to be human in a mocking way", then "Again but meaner and funnier" - "What should I be aware of when designing the file and directory layout in an S3 bucket that could grow to host millions of files?"
- greenpeas 4y ago
  How can you trust that whatever the expression used in Finnish to denote "Artificial Intelligence" uses "wit" when translated back into English? Words in one language often don't have an exact counterpart in another language, and I'd be especially wary when it comes to languages from different families: Finnish is notorious for being one of the few European languages not part of the Indo-European family. It may very well turn out to be the right translation, with the appropriate connotations; but without some clarification and confirmation from a native speaker, I would not trust it.
  - simonw 4y ago
    "How can you trust that" - I can't. This was idle curiosity. If I was going to publish this or do anything beyond satisfying my idle curiosity I would consult additional sources.
  - zamnos 4y ago
    thing is, it's not load bearing information.
- tuukkah 4y ago
  > Finnish translates to "Artificial wit" Yes and no: the root of the word (and of the meaning) is still the same as in the word for intelligence. tekoäly "artificial intelligence, artificial wit" äly "wit" älykäs "intelligent, having wit" älykkyys "intelligence, the property or extent of having wit" One dictionary definition for 'äly' is 'älykkyys' and vice versa, so they can be used more or less as synonyms but with some different connotations. I don't know how 'tekoäly' was chosen but it might have been because it's shorter and/or the grammar is nicer.
DangitBobby 4y ago
It's very good for taking roughly structured data and turning it into strongly structured data. E.g. someone with low data literacy or a program not designed to allow data export gave you something that needs to be made useful... In my day to day work (aside from programming) I find it helpful in writing stories and documentation.
ctoth 4y ago
I was working on some code I didn't originally write that looped over a directory recursively and took audio fingerprints of files, then saved them in a SQLite database. I pasted the code in, then gave orders like "Rewrite this to use pathlib." to which it happily did. Okay, next I notice it uses a .glob of "*.*" and so that makes me a bit suspicious. "Will this code work for audio files without extensions?" Nope. It fixes it. Okay, now I notice the original code builds up all the fingerprints in memory, then adds to the database. So I order it: > Add files to the database as we go, and print progress every thousand files Boom, just as I would have done it. Then I note that we don't seem to have good indexes, and it's like you're right! and puts an index on the audio fingerprint field. Then I ask it to save more info than just the file path, and it adds the size of the file. Then of course, I tell it: > This is remarkably slow, how can we significantly speed it up? To which it replies: > Here's an example implementation using multiprocessing: Awesome, it works! Oh, here's an error I got when I ran it when the audio fingerprinting library errored, handle that. Paste in the error, it fixes it. The thing is, I would have no problem with doing any of this stuff at all, it just made it so incredibly much faster, and if it does something you don't like, you can so easily correct it. Hope this helps you understand how I use it!

japhyr 4y ago

I was just working on a small exploratory project in Python. I used sys.argv because it's so quick to prototype with. When I started refining the project for longer term development, I wanted to convert the CLI to use argparse, so I could build a more nuanced CLI. I gave GPT a couple example commands I wanted to use, and in less than a minute I had a fully converted CLI that did exactly what I wanted, with more consistent help settings. I can do that work, but it would have been 30-45 minutes because there was one setting in argparse I hadn't used before. That alone was worth this month's $20. For more complex and mature projects I could see having to give GPT a minimum working example of what I need instead of the whole project, but I can already see how it will enhance my current workflows, not replace them.

cultureswitch 4y ago
See, a better LLM or an experienced human would have told you to use docopt instead of argparse and saved you more time in the long run.

simonw 4y ago

There are some examples of code things I've done with it here: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-or-help-on https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-... In terms of non-code things, here are a few from the past couple of days: - Coming up with potential analogies to explain why it's OK to call something a "language" model even though it doesn't have actual understanding of language - Exploring outliers in a CSV file (I was playing with the new alpha code interpreter, where you can upload a file and have it run and execute Python to evaluate that file) - Asking some basic questions about GDPR cookie banners - Figuring out if there are any languages worldwide where "Artificial Intelligence" translates to something that doesn't include the word "Intelligence" (found some good ones: Finnish translates to "Artificial wit", Swahili to "Artificial cunning") - Understanding jargon in a tweet about payment services - I wanted to know the difference between a "payment aggregator" and a "merchant acquirer" - As a thesaurus, finding alternatives to "sanctity" in the sentence "the sanctity of your training data" - Fun: "Pretend to be human in a mocking way", then "Again but meaner and funnier" - "What should I be aware of when designing the file and directory layout in an S3 bucket that could grow to host millions of files?"

greenpeas 4y ago
How can you trust that whatever the expression used in Finnish to denote "Artificial Intelligence" uses "wit" when translated back into English? Words in one language often don't have an exact counterpart in another language, and I'd be especially wary when it comes to languages from different families: Finnish is notorious for being one of the few European languages not part of the Indo-European family. It may very well turn out to be the right translation, with the appropriate connotations; but without some clarification and confirmation from a native speaker, I would not trust it.
- simonw 4y ago
  "How can you trust that" - I can't. This was idle curiosity. If I was going to publish this or do anything beyond satisfying my idle curiosity I would consult additional sources.
- zamnos 4y ago
  thing is, it's not load bearing information.
tuukkah 4y ago
> Finnish translates to "Artificial wit" Yes and no: the root of the word (and of the meaning) is still the same as in the word for intelligence. tekoäly "artificial intelligence, artificial wit" äly "wit" älykäs "intelligent, having wit" älykkyys "intelligence, the property or extent of having wit" One dictionary definition for 'äly' is 'älykkyys' and vice versa, so they can be used more or less as synonyms but with some different connotations. I don't know how 'tekoäly' was chosen but it might have been because it's shorter and/or the grammar is nicer.

DangitBobby 4y ago

It's very good for taking roughly structured data and turning it into strongly structured data. E.g. someone with low data literacy or a program not designed to allow data export gave you something that needs to be made useful... In my day to day work (aside from programming) I find it helpful in writing stories and documentation.

ctoth 4y ago

I was working on some code I didn't originally write that looped over a directory recursively and took audio fingerprints of files, then saved them in a SQLite database. I pasted the code in, then gave orders like "Rewrite this to use pathlib." to which it happily did. Okay, next I notice it uses a .glob of "*.*" and so that makes me a bit suspicious. "Will this code work for audio files without extensions?" Nope. It fixes it. Okay, now I notice the original code builds up all the fingerprints in memory, then adds to the database. So I order it: > Add files to the database as we go, and print progress every thousand files Boom, just as I would have done it. Then I note that we don't seem to have good indexes, and it's like you're right! and puts an index on the audio fingerprint field. Then I ask it to save more info than just the file path, and it adds the size of the file. Then of course, I tell it: > This is remarkably slow, how can we significantly speed it up? To which it replies: > Here's an example implementation using multiprocessing: Awesome, it works! Oh, here's an error I got when I ran it when the audio fingerprinting library errored, handle that. Paste in the error, it fixes it. The thing is, I would have no problem with doing any of this stuff at all, it just made it so incredibly much faster, and if it does something you don't like, you can so easily correct it. Hope this helps you understand how I use it!