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Neat article, but I feel like I have no idea why they're doing this! Is transcribing code from images really such a big use case?

lelag 1y ago
Maybe they want to compile the Apollo Guidance Computer source code... https://www.softwareheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Margaret_Hamilton_-_restoration.jpg https://www.softwareheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/...
- ivanjermakov 1y ago
  If it's not a joke, I think it was already digitized: https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11 https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11
dewey 1y ago
> To best support software engineers when they want to transcribe code from images, we fine-tuned our pre-processing pipeline to screenshots of code in IDEs, terminals, and online resources like YouTube videos and blog posts. Even with these examples that seems like a very narrow use case.
FloatArtifact 1y ago
From an accessibility standpoint, yes. To be able to pattern match where you are in I.D.E without using an accessibility api
SloopJon 1y ago
The product appears to be similar to Microsoft's embattled Recall feature. In order to remember your digital life it takes frequent screenshots.
gosub100 1y ago
I guess it would be excellent to evade security monitors to take unauthorized copies of your employers codebase.
EvanAnderson 1y ago
It worries me that stuff like that becoming easier will lead to wacky data pipelines being normalized (pulling display output off systems and "scraping" it to get data, of dubious quality, versus just building a proper interface). The kind of crowd that likes "low code" tools like MSFT's "Power Automate" is going to love to make Rube Goldberg nightmares out of tools like this. It fills me with a deep sadness that we created deterministic machines then, though laziness, exploit every opportunity to "contaminate" them with sloppy practices that make them produce output with the same fuzzy inaccuracy as human brains. Old man yells a neural networks take: We're entering a "The Machine Stops" era where nobody is going to know how to formulate basic algorithms. "We need to add some numbers. Let's point a camera at the input, OCR it, then feed it to an LLM that 'knows math'. Then we don't have to figure out an algorithm to add numbers." I wish compute "cost" more so people would be forced to actually make efficient use of hardware. Sadly, I think it'll take mass societal and infrastructure collapse for that to happen. Until it does, though, let the excess compute flow freely!
- jocoda 1y ago
  asimov - The feeling of power.

lelag 1y ago

Maybe they want to compile the Apollo Guidance Computer source code... https://www.softwareheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Margaret_Hamilton_-_restoration.jpg https://www.softwareheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/...

ivanjermakov 1y ago
If it's not a joke, I think it was already digitized: https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11 https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11

dewey 1y ago

> To best support software engineers when they want to transcribe code from images, we fine-tuned our pre-processing pipeline to screenshots of code in IDEs, terminals, and online resources like YouTube videos and blog posts. Even with these examples that seems like a very narrow use case.

FloatArtifact 1y ago

From an accessibility standpoint, yes. To be able to pattern match where you are in I.D.E without using an accessibility api

SloopJon 1y ago

The product appears to be similar to Microsoft's embattled Recall feature. In order to remember your digital life it takes frequent screenshots.

gosub100 1y ago

I guess it would be excellent to evade security monitors to take unauthorized copies of your employers codebase.

EvanAnderson 1y ago

It worries me that stuff like that becoming easier will lead to wacky data pipelines being normalized (pulling display output off systems and "scraping" it to get data, of dubious quality, versus just building a proper interface). The kind of crowd that likes "low code" tools like MSFT's "Power Automate" is going to love to make Rube Goldberg nightmares out of tools like this. It fills me with a deep sadness that we created deterministic machines then, though laziness, exploit every opportunity to "contaminate" them with sloppy practices that make them produce output with the same fuzzy inaccuracy as human brains. Old man yells a neural networks take: We're entering a "The Machine Stops" era where nobody is going to know how to formulate basic algorithms. "We need to add some numbers. Let's point a camera at the input, OCR it, then feed it to an LLM that 'knows math'. Then we don't have to figure out an algorithm to add numbers." I wish compute "cost" more so people would be forced to actually make efficient use of hardware. Sadly, I think it'll take mass societal and infrastructure collapse for that to happen. Until it does, though, let the excess compute flow freely!

jocoda 1y ago
asimov - The feeling of power.