[castigatio]

The argument doesn't work because whatever you think of where generative AI is taking us or not taking us - it is 100% demonstrably better at doing a wide range of tasks than other technologies we have available to us - even in its current exact form. Once computers started to be connected could we have stopped the development of the world wide web. If there's a way of getting humanity to collectively agree on things - please let's start by using it to stop climate change and create world peace before moving on to getting rid of LLM's.

[lwelyk]

What tasks is it better at doing than other technologies we have available to us? I'm not being sarcastic, I generally want to know in which areas you think it is better.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head that isn't just doing the things that make it a generative AI. (It's better at generating an image that I describe to it, etc, but that's not something that another technology does.)

[paulcole]

> What tasks is it better at doing than other technologies we have available to us? I'm not being sarcastic, I generally want to know in which areas you think it is better.

I, a below average programmer, can write code myself but it takes time and effort that is generally incompatible with my actual job. With an LLM I am able to write code with a level of time and effort that fits very nicely inside my job.

It can figure things out in a fraction of the time that it would take me. The limiting factor is no longer the depth of my technical knowledge but rather the knowledge of my business.

Sure, I could hire someone to do the coding for me but with an LLM available, why would I? And in that situation I would have to teach that person about the business because that would become their limiting factor if they could code as fast as the LLM.

[lwelyk]

As a fellow below average programmer I have used them for that, but it feels like a fairly minor improvement over searching stack overflow, but that is definitely an area where it is a time saver, thanks for the example.

[paulcole]

I must be more below average than you because it's a huge improvement for me over stack overflow.

I'm doing mostly scripts (some Python but mostly Google Apps Scripts) to automate processes at a digital marketing agency. As long as I can clearly explain how our business works and what I'm trying to accomplish I'm getting working first drafts of things that would take me hours to write (a way worse version of) in 30-40 minutes – and 25-35 minutes of that is writing the prompt/documenting the automation I want made.

It's really been amazing for me.

[castigatio]

Google search + LLM based search is far more effective than Google search alone. Google's stated mission has been to organize the world's information. Being able to ask a far more nuanced question about the kind of information you are looking for - and getting mostly useful responses - is more useful. Just one example among many. Simple natural language interaction with computer systems is huge. Just look at what LLM's are doing for robotics.

[mylifeandtimes]

Is it better than google search 20 years ago, when most web content was authoritative and not SEO crap?

Is it better than google search 20 year ago, when "google-fu" was a thing (look it up, google-fu refers to the ability to "ask a far more nuanced question about the kind of information you are looking for").

[graerg]

One very simple use case is making repetitive edits to a YAML (or similar) file. Sure, I can record a vim macro and/or try and conjure up some way to get it done with as few keystrokes as possible and hope I don’t fat finger anything along the way. Or I can just pipe it to llm and say [make this edit], and it just works.

[kevindamm]

Slight correction, we have many tools that are demonstrably better and more consistent than LLMs for their intended task; LLMs are just the most generally applicable tool (and the fumes are heady).

[castigatio]

I agree about the value of general application. I do think though that we just don't have the tools to do many things LLM's can do - searching information in a nuanced way and getting nuanced responses is one thing.