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This. I had this long standing dispute that I just never had the energy to look up what needed to be done to resolve it. I just told it to ChatGPT and it gener

This. I had this long standing dispute that I just never had the energy to look up what needed to be done to resolve it. I just told it to ChatGPT and it generated everything -- including the emails I needed to send and who to send them to. Two weeks later and it was taken care of. I had sat on it for literally 3 months until then. If I could have something that said, "Here are some things that it looks like you're procrastinating on -- do you want me to get started on them for you?" -- that would probably be crazy useful.

meowface 1y ago
Exactly. Agentic LLMs are amazing for people who suffer from chronic akrasia.
- rosstex 1y ago
  OH wow, a word to describe me
  - _9ptr 1y ago
    The latin word for that is "incontinentia".
- latexr 1y ago
  Those are exactly the people who shouldn’t use these tools. They’ll be sucked in to whatever bullshit the LLM peddles them and become unable to leave.
  - meowface 1y ago
    As long as it's helping them be productive, I don't really see an issue with that. Going from doing nothing to doing something is a net boost.
    - latexr 1y ago
      But it’s not helping them “be productive” (which is a horrible metric anyway, life is not about productivity above everything else), it’s sucking their lives and severing their relationships and connection to the real world. https://archive.ph/20250924025805/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html https://archive.ph/20250924025805/https://www.nytimes.com/20... https://archive.is/26aHF https://archive.is/26aHF
      - meowface 1y ago
        Those are chatbots and those issues are not akrasia. We're talking about very different things in multiple dimensions.
lethologica 1y ago
I have ADHD and it almost acts as a body double for me, which I find to be incredibly helpful to get things done.
- exogenousdata 1y ago
  GPT-4 got me seriously considering making a product for school-age kids w/ ADHD. It’d be a physical device (like a StarTrek communicator). That listens during your day and keeps track of a) things you say that you’ll do or b) tasks that other people ask you to do. Then it compiles those tasks and attempts to be basically a secretary. It can also plug into your email, texts & school assignments. The privacy implications are horrifying. But if done right, you’re taking about a kind of digital ‘executive function’ that could help a lot of kids that struggle with things like prioritization and time blindness.
  - Redster 1y ago
    We're not too far away from a smaller LLM that could be run locally that could do this, which would make it more privacy friendly. The plugging into my email seems like a great way to begin or complete a lethal trifecta and I don't have a good solution there, though.
    - alwillis 1y ago
      Every iPhone, iPad, and Mac that either ships with or is upgraded to iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 has a 3-billion parameter LLM that’s available to developers and operates on-device. Mail, Notes, Reminders are already integrated.[1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286 https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286
      - thinkmassive 1y ago
        I might be out of the loop, but if anyone else is confused about the version number: > If you were expecting iOS 19 after iOS 18, you might be a little surprised to see Apple jump to iOS 26, but the new number reflects the 2025-2026 release season for the software update. https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-26/ https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-26/
eru 1y ago
Yes, it's also useful against writer's block. (Which might be a subset of ADHD, I don't know?) For many people, it's easier to improve a bad first version of a piece of writing than to start from scratch. Even current mediocre LLM are great at writing bad first drafts.
- latexr 1y ago
  > Even current mediocre LLM are great at writing bad first drafts. Anyone is great at creating a bad first draft. You don’t need help to create something bad, that’s why that’s a common tip. Dan Harmon is constantly hammering on that advice for writer’s block: “prove you’re a bad writer”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqYUaUO1cQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqYUaUO1cQ If you get an LLM to write a first draft for you, it’ll be full of ideas which aren’t yours which will condition your writing.
  - CuriouslyC 1y ago
    Little plot twist, you can pitch an LLM an idea for a scene, then tell it to interrogate you thoroughly for the details, then tell it to generate a clean, tight draft optimized for efficient use of language and readability, and you basically get your own ideas back but with a lot of the boring parts of writing already done.
    - latexr 1y ago
      Making your writing itself boring and the same as everyone’s who used that technique, transforming it into something no one will want to read anyway.
      - CuriouslyC 1y ago
        You pretty much jumped to the most negative possible interpretation. You think there isn't an editing process?
        latexr 1y ago

meowface 1y ago

Exactly. Agentic LLMs are amazing for people who suffer from chronic akrasia.

rosstex 1y ago
OH wow, a word to describe me
- _9ptr 1y ago
  The latin word for that is "incontinentia".
latexr 1y ago
Those are exactly the people who shouldn’t use these tools. They’ll be sucked in to whatever bullshit the LLM peddles them and become unable to leave.
- meowface 1y ago
  As long as it's helping them be productive, I don't really see an issue with that. Going from doing nothing to doing something is a net boost.
  - latexr 1y ago
    But it’s not helping them “be productive” (which is a horrible metric anyway, life is not about productivity above everything else), it’s sucking their lives and severing their relationships and connection to the real world. https://archive.ph/20250924025805/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/technology/ai-chatbots-delusions-chatgpt.html https://archive.ph/20250924025805/https://www.nytimes.com/20... https://archive.is/26aHF https://archive.is/26aHF
    - meowface 1y ago
      Those are chatbots and those issues are not akrasia. We're talking about very different things in multiple dimensions.

lethologica 1y ago

I have ADHD and it almost acts as a body double for me, which I find to be incredibly helpful to get things done.

exogenousdata 1y ago
GPT-4 got me seriously considering making a product for school-age kids w/ ADHD. It’d be a physical device (like a StarTrek communicator). That listens during your day and keeps track of a) things you say that you’ll do or b) tasks that other people ask you to do. Then it compiles those tasks and attempts to be basically a secretary. It can also plug into your email, texts & school assignments. The privacy implications are horrifying. But if done right, you’re taking about a kind of digital ‘executive function’ that could help a lot of kids that struggle with things like prioritization and time blindness.
- Redster 1y ago
  We're not too far away from a smaller LLM that could be run locally that could do this, which would make it more privacy friendly. The plugging into my email seems like a great way to begin or complete a lethal trifecta and I don't have a good solution there, though.
  - alwillis 1y ago
    Every iPhone, iPad, and Mac that either ships with or is upgraded to iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 has a 3-billion parameter LLM that’s available to developers and operates on-device. Mail, Notes, Reminders are already integrated.[1] [1]: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286 https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/286
    - thinkmassive 1y ago
      I might be out of the loop, but if anyone else is confused about the version number: > If you were expecting iOS 19 after iOS 18, you might be a little surprised to see Apple jump to iOS 26, but the new number reflects the 2025-2026 release season for the software update. https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-26/ https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ios-26/

eru 1y ago

Yes, it's also useful against writer's block. (Which might be a subset of ADHD, I don't know?) For many people, it's easier to improve a bad first version of a piece of writing than to start from scratch. Even current mediocre LLM are great at writing bad first drafts.

latexr 1y ago
> Even current mediocre LLM are great at writing bad first drafts. Anyone is great at creating a bad first draft. You don’t need help to create something bad, that’s why that’s a common tip. Dan Harmon is constantly hammering on that advice for writer’s block: “prove you’re a bad writer”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqYUaUO1cQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVqYUaUO1cQ If you get an LLM to write a first draft for you, it’ll be full of ideas which aren’t yours which will condition your writing.
- CuriouslyC 1y ago
  Little plot twist, you can pitch an LLM an idea for a scene, then tell it to interrogate you thoroughly for the details, then tell it to generate a clean, tight draft optimized for efficient use of language and readability, and you basically get your own ideas back but with a lot of the boring parts of writing already done.
  - latexr 1y ago
    Making your writing itself boring and the same as everyone’s who used that technique, transforming it into something no one will want to read anyway.
    - CuriouslyC 1y ago
      You pretty much jumped to the most negative possible interpretation. You think there isn't an editing process?
      - latexr 1y ago