3 ms·

I pay $0 for Google with no delays. I don’t understand why I’d want to pay for information that’s less reliable. (I’m being slightly dense, but not really)

maxbond 4y ago
I use it to shortcut the process of knowing what to search by generating code examples. Eg, I know what I want to do, I'm just not sure what methods $framework provides for doing so. I develop a sense of it's limitations as I go (eg, some frameworks it gives me methods that have been moved or renamed or deprecated, and so I check for those things with those frameworks). When I was learning to program, and I'd get stuck to the point I needed to ask for help, it was a whole production. I'd need to really dot my 'i's and cross my 't's and come up with a terse question that demonstrated I had done my due diligence in trying to find the answer myself, pose the question in a concise and complete way, and do all of that in about 250 words because if it was too long it would get lost in the froth of the chatroom. (And it's probably apparent to you that brevity isn't my strongest quality (: ) And I'd still get my head bitten off for "wasting" the time of people who voluntarily sat in chatrooms answering questions all day. And I can understand why they felt that way (when I knew enough to answer questions I was just as much of a curmudgeon), but it was a pain in the ass, and I've met people who really struggled to learn to code partly because they couldn't interface with that system because they weren't willing to get their heads bitten off. So when they got stuck they spun their wheels until they gave up. ChatGPT just answers the damn question. You don't have to wait until you're really and truly stuck and have exhausted all your available resources. It doesn't even have the capacity to feel you've wasted it's time. I'm concerned about LLMs for a million different reasons, and I'm not sure how people who don't already know how to code can use them effectively when they make so much stuff up. But when I realized I could just ask it questions without spending half an hour just preparing to ask a question - that's when it clicked for me that this was something I might use regularly.
HDThoreaun 4y ago
Google is a worse product than gpt for some queries. And it's funded by ads which distorts incentives.
skybrian 4y ago
It's not useful for every search, but I find it useful when I can't come up with a search query that will give me the results I want. For example, ask it to recommend a good paper to read on some topic, then use Google to find the paper. If it made up the paper, you'll find out soon enough. Also, when you remember something very vaguely, it can be a way to get a name you can search on.
simonw 4y ago
Take a look at these four examples: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-or-help-on https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-... Each of those are things that would take WAY longer for me to research or answer using Google.
BlackSwanMan 4y ago
[flagged]
- naavis 4y ago
  It's a considerable sum for many people in many countries. Free on the other hand is equally free everywhere.
topspin 4y ago
> I don’t understand why I’d want to pay for information that’s less reliable. It's faster. Much faster in a lot of cases. Think of ChatGPT not as a precision source of answers, but rather a universal clue generator. Yes, ChatGPT frequently (perhaps even usually) produces subtly defective answers. Most of the code it generates won't interpret, compile, etc. without errors, frequently exhibiting simple minded mistakes. That doesn't make the output useless. Indeed, it is a great time saver. That may seem counterintuitive, but I assure you it holds. I had to write some Perl today. I end up dealing with that about once a year. I have a deep understanding of the language (going back to serious use in the 90's,) but it's been 20+ years since I dealt with it frequently enough to achieve any sort of "flow." ChatGPT and its imperfect answers were extremely helpful in getting through this efficiently. If I had to guess I was 3-4x faster than same exercise using convention search engines. Google, now more then ever, feels like a ghetto. Useful results from Google are always buried among low quality bait that takes time to wade through, sorting wheat from chaff. ChatGPT obviates that nonsense, producing distraction free, ad free results. Also, Google isn't some fount of truth; lots of wrong stuff makes it to the top of Google.

maxbond 4y ago

I use it to shortcut the process of knowing what to search by generating code examples. Eg, I know what I want to do, I'm just not sure what methods $framework provides for doing so. I develop a sense of it's limitations as I go (eg, some frameworks it gives me methods that have been moved or renamed or deprecated, and so I check for those things with those frameworks). When I was learning to program, and I'd get stuck to the point I needed to ask for help, it was a whole production. I'd need to really dot my 'i's and cross my 't's and come up with a terse question that demonstrated I had done my due diligence in trying to find the answer myself, pose the question in a concise and complete way, and do all of that in about 250 words because if it was too long it would get lost in the froth of the chatroom. (And it's probably apparent to you that brevity isn't my strongest quality (: ) And I'd still get my head bitten off for "wasting" the time of people who voluntarily sat in chatrooms answering questions all day. And I can understand why they felt that way (when I knew enough to answer questions I was just as much of a curmudgeon), but it was a pain in the ass, and I've met people who really struggled to learn to code partly because they couldn't interface with that system because they weren't willing to get their heads bitten off. So when they got stuck they spun their wheels until they gave up. ChatGPT just answers the damn question. You don't have to wait until you're really and truly stuck and have exhausted all your available resources. It doesn't even have the capacity to feel you've wasted it's time. I'm concerned about LLMs for a million different reasons, and I'm not sure how people who don't already know how to code can use them effectively when they make so much stuff up. But when I realized I could just ask it questions without spending half an hour just preparing to ask a question - that's when it clicked for me that this was something I might use regularly.

HDThoreaun 4y ago

Google is a worse product than gpt for some queries. And it's funded by ads which distorts incentives.

skybrian 4y ago

It's not useful for every search, but I find it useful when I can't come up with a search query that will give me the results I want. For example, ask it to recommend a good paper to read on some topic, then use Google to find the paper. If it made up the paper, you'll find out soon enough. Also, when you remember something very vaguely, it can be a way to get a name you can search on.

simonw 4y ago

Take a look at these four examples: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-or-help-on https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/7/chatgpt-lies/#warn-off-... Each of those are things that would take WAY longer for me to research or answer using Google.

BlackSwanMan 4y ago

[flagged]

naavis 4y ago
It's a considerable sum for many people in many countries. Free on the other hand is equally free everywhere.

topspin 4y ago

> I don’t understand why I’d want to pay for information that’s less reliable. It's faster. Much faster in a lot of cases. Think of ChatGPT not as a precision source of answers, but rather a universal clue generator. Yes, ChatGPT frequently (perhaps even usually) produces subtly defective answers. Most of the code it generates won't interpret, compile, etc. without errors, frequently exhibiting simple minded mistakes. That doesn't make the output useless. Indeed, it is a great time saver. That may seem counterintuitive, but I assure you it holds. I had to write some Perl today. I end up dealing with that about once a year. I have a deep understanding of the language (going back to serious use in the 90's,) but it's been 20+ years since I dealt with it frequently enough to achieve any sort of "flow." ChatGPT and its imperfect answers were extremely helpful in getting through this efficiently. If I had to guess I was 3-4x faster than same exercise using convention search engines. Google, now more then ever, feels like a ghetto. Useful results from Google are always buried among low quality bait that takes time to wade through, sorting wheat from chaff. ChatGPT obviates that nonsense, producing distraction free, ad free results. Also, Google isn't some fount of truth; lots of wrong stuff makes it to the top of Google.