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Just reading the (current top) few comments and whimsically wondered at the super business model of companies offering LLM services: a car service that won't ge

Just reading the (current top) few comments and whimsically wondered at the super business model of companies offering LLM services: a car service that won't get you from point A to B unless you hail it n times. A detergent that must be applied n times before cloths come out ("probably") clean. If a company is offering "Artificial intelligence" at a price, then isn't reasonable that you only pay for correct answers? If the company is offering car service, shouldn't you only pay if they take you to your destination?

CSSer 3y ago
Agreed, and if it fails often enough, isn’t the bar at which a human or general-purpose, traditionally structured automation is going to be superior pretty low? This is how I think this bubble will pop. No doubt, LLMs are a breakthrough tool, but I’m sincerely skeptical of all but the most granular applications. Perhaps the moral is that diffusing LLM agent accountability has the same failure model as the pre-existing human one.
nequo 3y ago
Counterpoint: National Weather Service forecasts don’t always turn out to be correct but we don’t only pay the NWS on days when they are correct.
samus 3y ago
Companies usually offer a service or a product. If the company doesn't deliver what was agreed upon, then the customer can demand correction. If a taxi driver takes a needlessly convoluted route, charges too much, or doesn't bring you to the destination, you can complain to the taxi company. If the laundry didn't work, you insist on doing it again. However, many activities are inherently fraught with risk or uncertain results since there are always things outside of anyone's control. A lawyer can't promise you prevail in a court case, but they have to advocate your case to the best of their abilities. A doctor won't guarantee that you become healthy again. No taxi driver will guarantee you that you will reach the destination in time, but they will bring you there. Atlassian won't guarantee you will meet a release deadline if you use their managed JIRA instance, but they will do their best to prevent data loss. And a company that basically sells access to a chatbot won't guarantee that it gives you correct results. Maybe availability guarantees.

CSSer 3y ago

Agreed, and if it fails often enough, isn’t the bar at which a human or general-purpose, traditionally structured automation is going to be superior pretty low? This is how I think this bubble will pop. No doubt, LLMs are a breakthrough tool, but I’m sincerely skeptical of all but the most granular applications. Perhaps the moral is that diffusing LLM agent accountability has the same failure model as the pre-existing human one.

nequo 3y ago

Counterpoint: National Weather Service forecasts don’t always turn out to be correct but we don’t only pay the NWS on days when they are correct.

samus 3y ago

Companies usually offer a service or a product. If the company doesn't deliver what was agreed upon, then the customer can demand correction. If a taxi driver takes a needlessly convoluted route, charges too much, or doesn't bring you to the destination, you can complain to the taxi company. If the laundry didn't work, you insist on doing it again. However, many activities are inherently fraught with risk or uncertain results since there are always things outside of anyone's control. A lawyer can't promise you prevail in a court case, but they have to advocate your case to the best of their abilities. A doctor won't guarantee that you become healthy again. No taxi driver will guarantee you that you will reach the destination in time, but they will bring you there. Atlassian won't guarantee you will meet a release deadline if you use their managed JIRA instance, but they will do their best to prevent data loss. And a company that basically sells access to a chatbot won't guarantee that it gives you correct results. Maybe availability guarantees.