3 ms·

So LLMs are unreliable experts, okay. They're still useful if you understand their particular flavor of unreliability (basically, they're way too enthusiastic)

So LLMs are unreliable experts, okay. They're still useful if you understand their particular flavor of unreliability (basically, they're way too enthusiastic) - but more importantly, I bet you have exactly zero human experts on speed dial. Most people don't even know any experts personally, much less have one they could call for help on demand. Meanwhile, the unreliable, occasionally tripping pseudo-experts named GPT-4 and Claude are equally unreliably-expert in every domain of interest known to humanity, and don't mind me shoving a random 100-pages long PDF in their face in the middle of the night - they'll still happily answer within seconds, and the whole session costs me fractions of a cent, so I can ask for a second, and third, and tenth opinion, and then a meta-opinion, and then compare&contrast with search results, and they don't mind that either. There's lots to LLMs that more than compensates for their inherent unreliability.

discreteevent 2y ago
> Most people don't even know any experts personally, much less have one they could call for help on demand. Most people can read original sources.
- signatoremo 2y ago
  Which sources? How do I know I can trust the sources that I found?
- brookst 2y ago
  And yet here you are making an unsourced claim. Should I trust your assertion of “most”?
- a1j9o94 2y ago
  How do you even know what original sources to read?
  - skydhash 2y ago
    There's something called bibliography at the end of every serious books.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      I am recalling CGP Grey's descent into madness due to actually following such trails through historical archives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEV9qoup2mQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEV9qoup2mQ Kurzgesagt had something along the same lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgo7rm5Maqg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgo7rm5Maqg
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  They can, but they usually don't, unless forced to. (Incidentally, not that different from LLMs, once again.)

discreteevent 2y ago

> Most people don't even know any experts personally, much less have one they could call for help on demand. Most people can read original sources.

signatoremo 2y ago
Which sources? How do I know I can trust the sources that I found?
brookst 2y ago
And yet here you are making an unsourced claim. Should I trust your assertion of “most”?
a1j9o94 2y ago
How do you even know what original sources to read?
- skydhash 2y ago
  There's something called bibliography at the end of every serious books.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    I am recalling CGP Grey's descent into madness due to actually following such trails through historical archives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEV9qoup2mQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEV9qoup2mQ Kurzgesagt had something along the same lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgo7rm5Maqg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgo7rm5Maqg
TeMPOraL 2y ago
They can, but they usually don't, unless forced to. (Incidentally, not that different from LLMs, once again.)