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by dsfyu404ed 1160 days ago
This. Asking GPT is basically like asking Reddit or some other "non expert" commentary system that's basically a pool of existing high level information.

It works fine if you want to know how to change a generic wheel bearing on a trailer (wouldn't surprise me if it erroneously lectured you about using high temp grease for disc brakes along the way tho). It falls on its face in almost every case in which the generic "average google result" answer is not the correct answer or there is situational circumstances that make the generic answer inappropriate.

Sure you might get an "expert" answer on Reddit and GPT might scan over the "right" answer to your question in its computation but in most cases the generically correct but wrong in this instance answer is going to be more popular and more prolific and be what gets spit back at you and it'll be faster for you to just dig up the right answer yourself than coax the right answer out of whatever you're asking.

1 comments

That's a very odd example. I'm sure that if I went into a car subreddit and asked "how do I change a front wheel bearing on a 2006 Nissan 350Z," not only would I get lots of responses, but I'd get many from people who have actually done it, done it recently, and could tell me pitfalls to watch out for along the way.

I'd trust a relevant subreddit far more than I'd trust GPT for something like that.

>That's a very odd example.

You don't understand. I specifically chose an example of a part for which there's a generic answer (all old school pair of tapered bearings on a spindle are changed about the same way) that will work in a wide array of vehicles and situaions but which that procedure is also not right a huge fraction of the time (a huge fraction of the cars on the road today).

>I'd trust a relevant subreddit far more than I'd trust GPT for something like that.

My point is I don't trust either. If you're lucky enough to have an enthusiast car or very, very common car you might be able to use the specific sub assuming the owners aren't generally dolts. If you ask how to change the wheel bearing on your Tacoma they'll say take it to the dealer. If you ask the mechanic sub a bunch of 14yos who know how to google will give you generic steps or just link you to the youtube video. That's the level chatGPT is on right now. If you don't know what you don't know it's dangerous advice.