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One thing I've tried using Gemini for, and been really impressed with, is practicing languages. I find Duolingo doesn't really translate to fluency, because it

One thing I've tried using Gemini for, and been really impressed with, is practicing languages. I find Duolingo doesn't really translate to fluency, because it doesn't really get you to struggle to express yourself - the topics are constrained. Whereas, you can ask an LLM to speak to you in e.g. Spanish, about whatever topic you're interested in, and be able to stop and ask it to explain any idioms or vocabulary or grammar in English at any time. I found this to be more like a "cognitive gym". Maybe we're just not using the tools beneficially.

kokanee 2y ago
I remain perplexed that everyone is so focused on using LLMs to automate software engineering, when there are language-based professions (like Spanish tutor, in your example) that seem more directly threatened by language models. The only explanation I've heard is that the industry is so excited about reducing spend on software engineering salaries that they're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and largely ignoring the square holes.
- thewebguyd 2y ago
  > The only explanation I've heard is that the industry is so excited about reducing spend on software engineering salaries that they're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and largely ignoring the square holes. I think that's really just it, and I agree with you. There are many other areas LLMs can, and should, be more useful and effort put toward both assisting and automating. Instead, the industry is focusing on creative arts and software development because human talent for that is both limited and expensive, with a third factor of humans generally being able to resist doing morally questionable things (e.g., what if hiring for weapons systems software becomes increasingly difficult due to a lack of willingness to work on those projects, likewise for increasingly invasive surveillance tech, etc.) We're rushing into basically the opposite of what AI should do for us. Automation should work to free us up to focus more on the arts and sciences, not take it away from us. Greed at its finest.
- zzbzq 2y ago
  I think it's because software engineers are the only group that can unanimously operate LLMs effectively and build them into larger systems. They'll automate their own jobs first and move on to building the toolkits to automate the others.
- adelie 2y ago
  language-based professions like translation have been dying for years and no one has cared; they're not about to start now that the final nail's been put in the coffin.
rahimnathwani 2y ago
the topics are constrained Is this true even if you have Duolingo Max and use the video calling feature?

kokanee 2y ago

I remain perplexed that everyone is so focused on using LLMs to automate software engineering, when there are language-based professions (like Spanish tutor, in your example) that seem more directly threatened by language models. The only explanation I've heard is that the industry is so excited about reducing spend on software engineering salaries that they're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and largely ignoring the square holes.

thewebguyd 2y ago
> The only explanation I've heard is that the industry is so excited about reducing spend on software engineering salaries that they're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, and largely ignoring the square holes. I think that's really just it, and I agree with you. There are many other areas LLMs can, and should, be more useful and effort put toward both assisting and automating. Instead, the industry is focusing on creative arts and software development because human talent for that is both limited and expensive, with a third factor of humans generally being able to resist doing morally questionable things (e.g., what if hiring for weapons systems software becomes increasingly difficult due to a lack of willingness to work on those projects, likewise for increasingly invasive surveillance tech, etc.) We're rushing into basically the opposite of what AI should do for us. Automation should work to free us up to focus more on the arts and sciences, not take it away from us. Greed at its finest.
zzbzq 2y ago
I think it's because software engineers are the only group that can unanimously operate LLMs effectively and build them into larger systems. They'll automate their own jobs first and move on to building the toolkits to automate the others.
adelie 2y ago
language-based professions like translation have been dying for years and no one has cared; they're not about to start now that the final nail's been put in the coffin.

rahimnathwani 2y ago

the topics are constrained Is this true even if you have Duolingo Max and use the video calling feature?