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Is it technically though? I still struggle to find any use to it in my daily life. It is a cool demo, but no one wants to read AI generated text from other peo

Is it technically though? I still struggle to find any use to it in my daily life. It is a cool demo, but no one wants to read AI generated text from other people.

sigmoid10 3y ago
I regularly use it for menial tasks and it has almost completely replaced searching documentations of major libraries for me. As a senior developer, it's a productivity gold mine if you learn how to use it correctly. But I wouldn't recommend it to any junior dev, because you need lots of experience to see when it starts hallucinating.
- hartator 3y ago
  > I regularly use it for menial tasks Like random formal letter to AI? Maybe it is a societal problem more than a technical one if we all hate writing and reading these. I don’t get the search documentation part. It has obvious blind spots on many things and hallucinate on others.
  - sigmoid10 3y ago
    >Like random formal letter to AI? No, I'm talking about things like writing SQL queries (even complex ones), CMake files, Docker configs or plotting stuff in Python. Of course, if you're not already an expert in these things, you'll have a hard time distinguishing useful replies from hallucinations - that's why I said it's mostly for senior devs. Without expert knowledge, you will likely not be able to benefit from it in its current state. But if you have that and know how to write efficient queries, it can easily up your productivity by a factor of 10 (i.e. going back and forth for 6 minutes with GPT4 to make it get your requirements can save you an hour of work looking through documentations).
    - josephg 3y ago
      10x seems like a stretch, but I agree. I have a chatgpt window open most of my workday now too. "Hey chatgpt - help me write this mathematical equation in latex. Hey chatgpt - give me an example nodejs program that reads a line-delimited JSON file without loading the whole thing in memory first". "Hey chatgpt - What are the popular & good python libraries for drawing an SVG scatter plot of some data? Give me some example code for each library."
      - sigmoid10 3y ago
        It depends on what you're doing of course. With your example queries I'd also expect a lower boost, but the benefits should still be there. Where it really shines is if you already know exactly what you want and how you want it and you merely need someone to write it in code in a common language.
- vachina 3y ago
  How do you reconcile with the fact that it imagine things?
  - Philpax 3y ago
    GPT-4's solutions are usually correct the first time around, or can be corrected by telling it what it did wrong. The ask-clarify-correct loop is still faster and less effort than doing it yourself.
    - verdverm 3y ago
      If people continue to learn outside of LLMs and can tell when it is wrong so they can correct it. The slope can be slippery. For those of us who grew up before the rise of LLMs, this isn't really something we have to worry about. But the next generation will be not know what it was like without LLMs, kind of like the pre/post-internet/phone generational splits
  - matwood 3y ago
    The same way a colleague or myself is often not 100% correct. Neither is Google.
  - Kiro 3y ago
    Not a problem in practice if you're a developer. It's probably worse if you're just copypasting without understanding anything.
  - jddj 3y ago
    Approach it with the same critical eye that you use to consume any other information.
  - RobCat27 3y ago
    I've found that for questions that aren't super complex on things that are extremely likely to be in its training dataset (such as public documentation of popular Python libraries) the error rate is very close to 0%. Even compared to GPT from a few months ago I've found the accuracy of responses has increased dramatically. I still believe anyone using these tools on a day-to-day basis should have a sense of "trust but verify."
- rvz 3y ago
  > As a senior developer it's a productivity gold mine if you learn how to use it correctly. Sounds like what a junior developer would say, given they tend to depend on it even when it hallucinates the wrong answers badly. Also explains the rampant title inflation that is going around in the tech industry these days.
  - nunobrito 3y ago
    Would have to disagree. I've writing code for +25 years and counting, a good portion is critical infraestructure code. I've reached the title of chief-expert and quite frankly gets difficult nowdays to find people who can answer my questions or at least help explore possible routes to solve them. ChatGPT is like a buddy that is always available and sitting next to you for a good technical chat. Sometimes it comes up with really good techniques that are different from my usual approaches, other times is plain wrong and I'm correcting it. I am more productive with the ChatGPT in my life. Whenever stuck on some weird error, instead of googling I paste the log and discuss with the bot what can be going wrong there. We can talk about pointer analysis, performance bottleneck comparisons. Could I do it all on my own? Sure. However it is boring and quite certainly would require 10x more time to perform all calculations on my own. In the end of a day it is just another tool. Brings advantage when used properly.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
xvector 3y ago
I use ChatGPT multiple times a day every day. It has mostly replaced search for me and enables rapid problem-solving and research.
- Chilinot 3y ago
  I would never trust the output from it to use it as a search. But for quickly creating some template when i want to write a big report or email for something, then yes it's very useful.
  - andrewxdiamond 3y ago
    Do you trust the content of the sites Google returns you? Or do you cross verify the content to other sources. ChatGPT is about as accurate as random websites on the internet, and you don’t get obliterated with ads. Simple example, ChatGPT will give you a clear recipe for whatever you want, sans life story designed to make you scroll past a million ads.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Having the context for a recipe makes it a lot easier for me to evaluate whether this is probably a quality source or not. I really don't get the hate so many people seem to have for anything other than a list of ingredients and steps to follow. In general, the context of search gives some insight into the credibility of the source.
      - ben_w 3y ago
        Random life stories are everywhere, and have nothing much in common with cooking well. Even before LLMs could fake that part as easily as the recipe itself. Only way to know if a recipe is good is to look at it.
      - andrewxdiamond 3y ago
        It’s because they are entirely manipulative, and usually have nothing to do with the actual recipe. The “context around the recipe” rarely is written by the person who put the work in to develop that recipe. It’s almost always content-farmed out or more recently, entirely generated by AI. The only reason those blobs of text exist is to get you to look at more ads. Put more things in your head against your will, sell you more garbage, and manipulate your feelings. If it wasn’t true, why are the recipes always at the bottom? Why not put the most valuable part right front and center? These websites have no respect for you and likely copy pasted the recipe anyways.
realPtolemy 3y ago
I use it multiple times per week, more than I use Instagram and most other apps.
spiderfarmer 3y ago
I use it about 15-20 times per day mostly because it fills the gaps in the documentation of the tools and languages I'm using. But I use the web interface, not the app.
ben_w 3y ago
Recipes without adverts, and 97% complete python scripts for small projects I'd otherwise never get around to.
mpalmer 3y ago
Agree on the last point, it boggles the mind that someone thinks they're contributing something of value by mindlessly pasting in ChatGPT content. That said, sharing the output with others is not necessary to get value out of it. For example: "Help me work through an [idea/plan/problem] by asking the next Socratic-method-style question."

Is it technically though? I still struggle to find any use to it in my daily life. It is a cool demo, but no one wants to read AI generated text from other people.

sigmoid10 3y ago

I regularly use it for menial tasks and it has almost completely replaced searching documentations of major libraries for me. As a senior developer, it's a productivity gold mine if you learn how to use it correctly. But I wouldn't recommend it to any junior dev, because you need lots of experience to see when it starts hallucinating.

hartator 3y ago
> I regularly use it for menial tasks Like random formal letter to AI? Maybe it is a societal problem more than a technical one if we all hate writing and reading these. I don’t get the search documentation part. It has obvious blind spots on many things and hallucinate on others.
- sigmoid10 3y ago
  >Like random formal letter to AI? No, I'm talking about things like writing SQL queries (even complex ones), CMake files, Docker configs or plotting stuff in Python. Of course, if you're not already an expert in these things, you'll have a hard time distinguishing useful replies from hallucinations - that's why I said it's mostly for senior devs. Without expert knowledge, you will likely not be able to benefit from it in its current state. But if you have that and know how to write efficient queries, it can easily up your productivity by a factor of 10 (i.e. going back and forth for 6 minutes with GPT4 to make it get your requirements can save you an hour of work looking through documentations).
  - josephg 3y ago
    10x seems like a stretch, but I agree. I have a chatgpt window open most of my workday now too. "Hey chatgpt - help me write this mathematical equation in latex. Hey chatgpt - give me an example nodejs program that reads a line-delimited JSON file without loading the whole thing in memory first". "Hey chatgpt - What are the popular & good python libraries for drawing an SVG scatter plot of some data? Give me some example code for each library."
    - sigmoid10 3y ago
      It depends on what you're doing of course. With your example queries I'd also expect a lower boost, but the benefits should still be there. Where it really shines is if you already know exactly what you want and how you want it and you merely need someone to write it in code in a common language.
vachina 3y ago
How do you reconcile with the fact that it imagine things?
- Philpax 3y ago
  GPT-4's solutions are usually correct the first time around, or can be corrected by telling it what it did wrong. The ask-clarify-correct loop is still faster and less effort than doing it yourself.
  - verdverm 3y ago
    If people continue to learn outside of LLMs and can tell when it is wrong so they can correct it. The slope can be slippery. For those of us who grew up before the rise of LLMs, this isn't really something we have to worry about. But the next generation will be not know what it was like without LLMs, kind of like the pre/post-internet/phone generational splits
- matwood 3y ago
  The same way a colleague or myself is often not 100% correct. Neither is Google.
- Kiro 3y ago
  Not a problem in practice if you're a developer. It's probably worse if you're just copypasting without understanding anything.
- jddj 3y ago
  Approach it with the same critical eye that you use to consume any other information.
- RobCat27 3y ago
  I've found that for questions that aren't super complex on things that are extremely likely to be in its training dataset (such as public documentation of popular Python libraries) the error rate is very close to 0%. Even compared to GPT from a few months ago I've found the accuracy of responses has increased dramatically. I still believe anyone using these tools on a day-to-day basis should have a sense of "trust but verify."
rvz 3y ago
> As a senior developer it's a productivity gold mine if you learn how to use it correctly. Sounds like what a junior developer would say, given they tend to depend on it even when it hallucinates the wrong answers badly. Also explains the rampant title inflation that is going around in the tech industry these days.
- nunobrito 3y ago
  Would have to disagree. I've writing code for +25 years and counting, a good portion is critical infraestructure code. I've reached the title of chief-expert and quite frankly gets difficult nowdays to find people who can answer my questions or at least help explore possible routes to solve them. ChatGPT is like a buddy that is always available and sitting next to you for a good technical chat. Sometimes it comes up with really good techniques that are different from my usual approaches, other times is plain wrong and I'm correcting it. I am more productive with the ChatGPT in my life. Whenever stuck on some weird error, instead of googling I paste the log and discuss with the bot what can be going wrong there. We can talk about pointer analysis, performance bottleneck comparisons. Could I do it all on my own? Sure. However it is boring and quite certainly would require 10x more time to perform all calculations on my own. In the end of a day it is just another tool. Brings advantage when used properly.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

xvector 3y ago

I use ChatGPT multiple times a day every day. It has mostly replaced search for me and enables rapid problem-solving and research.

Chilinot 3y ago
I would never trust the output from it to use it as a search. But for quickly creating some template when i want to write a big report or email for something, then yes it's very useful.
- andrewxdiamond 3y ago
  Do you trust the content of the sites Google returns you? Or do you cross verify the content to other sources. ChatGPT is about as accurate as random websites on the internet, and you don’t get obliterated with ads. Simple example, ChatGPT will give you a clear recipe for whatever you want, sans life story designed to make you scroll past a million ads.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Having the context for a recipe makes it a lot easier for me to evaluate whether this is probably a quality source or not. I really don't get the hate so many people seem to have for anything other than a list of ingredients and steps to follow. In general, the context of search gives some insight into the credibility of the source.
    - ben_w 3y ago
      Random life stories are everywhere, and have nothing much in common with cooking well. Even before LLMs could fake that part as easily as the recipe itself. Only way to know if a recipe is good is to look at it.
    - andrewxdiamond 3y ago
      It’s because they are entirely manipulative, and usually have nothing to do with the actual recipe. The “context around the recipe” rarely is written by the person who put the work in to develop that recipe. It’s almost always content-farmed out or more recently, entirely generated by AI. The only reason those blobs of text exist is to get you to look at more ads. Put more things in your head against your will, sell you more garbage, and manipulate your feelings. If it wasn’t true, why are the recipes always at the bottom? Why not put the most valuable part right front and center? These websites have no respect for you and likely copy pasted the recipe anyways.

realPtolemy 3y ago

I use it multiple times per week, more than I use Instagram and most other apps.

spiderfarmer 3y ago

I use it about 15-20 times per day mostly because it fills the gaps in the documentation of the tools and languages I'm using. But I use the web interface, not the app.

ben_w 3y ago

Recipes without adverts, and 97% complete python scripts for small projects I'd otherwise never get around to.

mpalmer 3y ago

Agree on the last point, it boggles the mind that someone thinks they're contributing something of value by mindlessly pasting in ChatGPT content. That said, sharing the output with others is not necessary to get value out of it. For example: "Help me work through an [idea/plan/problem] by asking the next Socratic-method-style question."