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> We use LLM for exploring data with language, and our brains for reasoning I know this is very cynical of me, but I am becoming very convinced that this is ac

> We use LLM for exploring data with language, and our brains for reasoning I know this is very cynical of me, but I am becoming very convinced that this is actually the biggest draw to AI for a lot of people They don't want to use their brains People talk about how it can summarize long text for them. This is framed as being a time saver, but I'm positive for a lot of people they just don't want to read the full text It can generate images for people who don't want to learn how to draw, or save them money by not hiring artists

hooverd 2y ago
If you're generating long text to send to people and summarizing long text that people send to you, you're just wasting other people's time. They also talk about democratizing art- are they using LLMs' probably vast corpus of art feedback to improve their own work? Well, no.
- K0balt 2y ago
  Yes. Please. Stop. AI summaries are often terrible and miss anything resembling a subtle point. Generating long form from a summary is just literally packing the summary with obvious information and made up bullshit. LLMs generate text, not knowledge. They are great for parsing human culture… but not good at thinking.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- seba_dos1 2y ago
  The only proper and actually useful use-case for LLM-summarized text I've seen so far was the one I first saw used in ChatGPT's UI itself. All the rest, including Apple's notifications, was so obviously problematic that it smells "investment bubble" from a thousand miles.
dinfinity 2y ago
> This is framed as being a time saver, but I'm positive for a lot of people they just don't want to read the full text Yes, those can be very much the same thing and it does not mean that people don't want to use their brains. If I encounter a long article and have serious doubts as to whether it will be worth my time, reading a summary first helps a lot. In fact, now that we're on the subject: _Proper_ journalism is _supposed_ to provide the key points at the beginning of the text (as opposed to some silly information free nonsense meant to 'set the scene' or 'hook you in'). Don't bury the lead/lede. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid_(journalism) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid_(journalism) Half of the value of reading things via HN is seeing the top comment be a summary of the key points of the linked content. It's very, very valuable in this day and age where good writing has taken a back seat to making money.

hooverd 2y ago

If you're generating long text to send to people and summarizing long text that people send to you, you're just wasting other people's time. They also talk about democratizing art- are they using LLMs' probably vast corpus of art feedback to improve their own work? Well, no.

K0balt 2y ago
Yes. Please. Stop. AI summaries are often terrible and miss anything resembling a subtle point. Generating long form from a summary is just literally packing the summary with obvious information and made up bullshit. LLMs generate text, not knowledge. They are great for parsing human culture… but not good at thinking.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
seba_dos1 2y ago
The only proper and actually useful use-case for LLM-summarized text I've seen so far was the one I first saw used in ChatGPT's UI itself. All the rest, including Apple's notifications, was so obviously problematic that it smells "investment bubble" from a thousand miles.

dinfinity 2y ago

> This is framed as being a time saver, but I'm positive for a lot of people they just don't want to read the full text Yes, those can be very much the same thing and it does not mean that people don't want to use their brains. If I encounter a long article and have serious doubts as to whether it will be worth my time, reading a summary first helps a lot. In fact, now that we're on the subject: _Proper_ journalism is _supposed_ to provide the key points at the beginning of the text (as opposed to some silly information free nonsense meant to 'set the scene' or 'hook you in'). Don't bury the lead/lede. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid_(journalism) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid_(journalism) Half of the value of reading things via HN is seeing the top comment be a summary of the key points of the linked content. It's very, very valuable in this day and age where good writing has taken a back seat to making money.