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That's not entirely true. AI can solve math puzzles better than 99.9% of population. Yes AI makes mistakes, so do humans very often.

root_axis 2y ago
Humans make mistakes, sure, but if a human starts hallucinating we immediately lose trust in them. > AI can solve math puzzles better than 99.9% of population So can a calculator.
skydhash 2y ago
> AI can solve math puzzles better than 99.9% of population I've studied electronic engineering and then switched to software engineering as a career, and I can say the only time I've been exposed to math puzzles were in academic settings. The knowledge is nice and help with certain problem solving, but you can be pretty sure I will reach out to a textbook and a calculator before trying to brute-force one such puzzle. The most important thing in my daily life is understand the given task, do it correctly, and report about what I've done.
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  Yep this exactly. If I ever feel that I'm solving a puzzle at work, I stop and ask for more information. Once my task is clear, I start working on it. Learned long ago that puzzle solving is almost always solving the wrong problem and wasting time.
  - skydhash 2y ago
    Maybe that's where the disconnect comes from. For me understanding comes before doing. And coding for me is doing. There may be cases when I assumes that my understanding was complete and the feedback (errors during compiling and testing) told me I'm wrong, but that just triggers another round of research to seek understanding. Puzzle solving is only for when information are not available (reverse engineering, closed systems,...) but there's a lot of information out there for the majority of tasks. I'm amazed when people spend hours trying to vibe code something, where they could spend just a few minutes reading about the system and comes up with a working solution (or find something that already works).
masswerk 2y ago
> so do humans very often. While I do see this argument made quite frequently, doesn't any professional effort center in procedures employed particularly to avoid mistakes? Isn't this really the point of professional work (including professional liabilities)?

root_axis 2y ago

Humans make mistakes, sure, but if a human starts hallucinating we immediately lose trust in them. > AI can solve math puzzles better than 99.9% of population So can a calculator.

skydhash 2y ago

> AI can solve math puzzles better than 99.9% of population I've studied electronic engineering and then switched to software engineering as a career, and I can say the only time I've been exposed to math puzzles were in academic settings. The knowledge is nice and help with certain problem solving, but you can be pretty sure I will reach out to a textbook and a calculator before trying to brute-force one such puzzle. The most important thing in my daily life is understand the given task, do it correctly, and report about what I've done.

SoftTalker 2y ago
Yep this exactly. If I ever feel that I'm solving a puzzle at work, I stop and ask for more information. Once my task is clear, I start working on it. Learned long ago that puzzle solving is almost always solving the wrong problem and wasting time.
- skydhash 2y ago
  Maybe that's where the disconnect comes from. For me understanding comes before doing. And coding for me is doing. There may be cases when I assumes that my understanding was complete and the feedback (errors during compiling and testing) told me I'm wrong, but that just triggers another round of research to seek understanding. Puzzle solving is only for when information are not available (reverse engineering, closed systems,...) but there's a lot of information out there for the majority of tasks. I'm amazed when people spend hours trying to vibe code something, where they could spend just a few minutes reading about the system and comes up with a working solution (or find something that already works).

masswerk 2y ago

> so do humans very often. While I do see this argument made quite frequently, doesn't any professional effort center in procedures employed particularly to avoid mistakes? Isn't this really the point of professional work (including professional liabilities)?