5 ms·

I know a guy who does this. He finds a problem, then tells ChatGPT about it. Then ChatGPT elaborates it into dross. He says look at the magical output, without

I know a guy who does this. He finds a problem, then tells ChatGPT about it. Then ChatGPT elaborates it into dross. He says look at the magical output, without reading it or bothering to understand it. Then posts it to the vendor. The vendor gets mislead and the original issue is never fixed. Then I have to start the process again from scratch after 2 weeks are wasted on it. The root cause is that LLMs are a damage multiplier for fuckwits. It is literally an attractive hammer for the worst of humanity: laziness and incompetence. I imagine that could be weaponised quite easily.

Bluestein 2y ago
> The root cause is that LLMs are a damage multiplier for fuckwits. Reminds me of Eco's quote about giving the "village idiot" a megaphone. But, transposed to the age of AI.-
- hyhconito 2y ago
  It's much worse than that. It's giving the village idiot something which turns their insane ramblings into something that is incredibly verbose and sounds credible but inherits both the original idiot's poor communication and the subtle ramblings of an electronic crackhead in it. Bring back the days of "because it's got electrolytes" because I can easily ignore those ones.
  - fakedang 2y ago
    To quote another frontpage article, it transforms the village idiot into a "Julius".
    - hyhconito 2y ago
      Oh shit I just read that and am utterly horrified because I've been through that and am going through it. I have instantly decided to optimise myself to retire as quickly as possible.
      - fakedang 2y ago
        Don't worry, you're not alone. I'm in the same boat. :)
    - Izkata 2y ago
      For others since it's about to fall off the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42494090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42494090
- jgalt212 2y ago
  The culture is been driven by village idiots.
  - Bluestein 2y ago
    Since ... ... at least when villages were prevalent. Or, earlier ... :)
nullc 2y ago
> I imagine that could be weaponised quite easily. I've been dealing with a vexatious conartist that has been using chatgpt to dump thousands of pages of garbage on the courts and my legal team. The plus side is that the output is exceptionally incompetent.
- Bluestein 2y ago
  Goodness gracious. Are we getting to DDoJ? (Denial of Justice by AI?) ... ... getting to an "AI arms race" where the team with the better AI "wins" - if nothing else by virtue of merely being able to survive the slop and get to the actual material - and then, of course, argue.-
  - RevEng 2y ago
    Flooding the court system with frivolous charges and mountains of irrelevant evidence is already a common tactic for stalling justice. Sometimes it's just to make the other side run out of money and give up. Sometimes it's an attempt to overwhelm the jury with BS so they can't be confident in their conclusion. And more recently, we've seen it used to delay a decision until they are elected and therefore immune.
- vouaobrasil 2y ago
  > The plus side is that the output is exceptionally incompetent. It won't be for long. This is reminiscent of the development of the first rifles, which often jammed or misfired, and weren't very accurate to a long range. Now look at weapons like a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle -- that's what AI will look like in 10 years.
  - hyhconito 2y ago
    I keep hearing this but the current evidence, asymptotic progress and financials say otherwise.
    - vouaobrasil 2y ago
      I guess what you are saying would probably have been said by AI skeptics in the 70s, but LLMs provided a quantum leap. Yes, progress is often asymptotic and governed by diminishing returns, but discontinuous breakthrough must also be factored in.
0points 2y ago
Well said!
RajT88 2y ago
My wife has a coworker like this. Except I stead of bug reports, he just gets some crap code written and sends it to her assuming it can be dropped in and ran. (It is often wrong)
rsynnott 2y ago
But _why_? What’s his motivation for doing this, vs just writing a proper report?

Bluestein 2y ago

> The root cause is that LLMs are a damage multiplier for fuckwits. Reminds me of Eco's quote about giving the "village idiot" a megaphone. But, transposed to the age of AI.-

hyhconito 2y ago
It's much worse than that. It's giving the village idiot something which turns their insane ramblings into something that is incredibly verbose and sounds credible but inherits both the original idiot's poor communication and the subtle ramblings of an electronic crackhead in it. Bring back the days of "because it's got electrolytes" because I can easily ignore those ones.
- fakedang 2y ago
  To quote another frontpage article, it transforms the village idiot into a "Julius".
  - hyhconito 2y ago
    Oh shit I just read that and am utterly horrified because I've been through that and am going through it. I have instantly decided to optimise myself to retire as quickly as possible.
    - fakedang 2y ago
      Don't worry, you're not alone. I'm in the same boat. :)
  - Izkata 2y ago
    For others since it's about to fall off the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42494090 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42494090
jgalt212 2y ago
The culture is been driven by village idiots.
- Bluestein 2y ago
  Since ... ... at least when villages were prevalent. Or, earlier ... :)

nullc 2y ago

> I imagine that could be weaponised quite easily. I've been dealing with a vexatious conartist that has been using chatgpt to dump thousands of pages of garbage on the courts and my legal team. The plus side is that the output is exceptionally incompetent.

Bluestein 2y ago
Goodness gracious. Are we getting to DDoJ? (Denial of Justice by AI?) ... ... getting to an "AI arms race" where the team with the better AI "wins" - if nothing else by virtue of merely being able to survive the slop and get to the actual material - and then, of course, argue.-
- RevEng 2y ago
  Flooding the court system with frivolous charges and mountains of irrelevant evidence is already a common tactic for stalling justice. Sometimes it's just to make the other side run out of money and give up. Sometimes it's an attempt to overwhelm the jury with BS so they can't be confident in their conclusion. And more recently, we've seen it used to delay a decision until they are elected and therefore immune.
vouaobrasil 2y ago
> The plus side is that the output is exceptionally incompetent. It won't be for long. This is reminiscent of the development of the first rifles, which often jammed or misfired, and weren't very accurate to a long range. Now look at weapons like a Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle -- that's what AI will look like in 10 years.
- hyhconito 2y ago
  I keep hearing this but the current evidence, asymptotic progress and financials say otherwise.
  - vouaobrasil 2y ago
    I guess what you are saying would probably have been said by AI skeptics in the 70s, but LLMs provided a quantum leap. Yes, progress is often asymptotic and governed by diminishing returns, but discontinuous breakthrough must also be factored in.

0points 2y ago

Well said!

RajT88 2y ago

My wife has a coworker like this. Except I stead of bug reports, he just gets some crap code written and sends it to her assuming it can be dropped in and ran. (It is often wrong)

rsynnott 2y ago

But _why_? What’s his motivation for doing this, vs just writing a proper report?