Machine learning is cool though and has its uses. LLMs… not so much.
LLMs are machine learning, and they don’t even necessarily need to be used for language generation; you can set LLMs on other NLP problems like sentiment analysis, etc.
But somewhat agreed with the overall sentiment.
Yeah, I meant that the LLM subset of ML is significantly less useful than other types of ML.
To me, GPTs are mainly problematic in the hands of the general public; I see no reason why they can’t be extremely useful in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing. And I don’t buy the “well you have to verify what they’re saying” argument, because hence “someone who knows what they’re doing”: you want to take NP problems that are inherently hard to solve but easy to verify. GPTs are stochastic just like any form of ML, and you need to use them accordingly.
I don’t use them personally, but that’s because I have a decade of experience researching and can usually find what I need to in one go – usually weird, one-off stuff. On the other hand, a GPT set on specific problems rather than trying to be a general Q&A machine etc. is probably/I think has shown to be extremely useful for researchers who know what they’re doing with it.
I said I somewhat agree with your sentiment mainly because I think you’re conflating useful and problematic.
There was a point for me recently where I needed a specific android app for a specific purpose… I look up and there’s of course like three free ones, but they all mention ads. One of them with the highest reviews says you can watch ads whenever you want on it to get access, or, pay $30 for lifetime access.
I realized it would literally be cheaper to throw cursor at the problem and ignore it so I did. Left it mostly alone for an hour, approving some gradlew commands carefully… And then it spits something out that does exactly what I want and works 100% fine. I ask for a couple ease of use features, and 10 minutes later I have what I want with improvements.
People that say LLM are worthless and can’t do anything right either don’t know how to use it, used it years ago, or just really really want it to suck whether it does or not.
The tools work and work really fucking well, whether I like it or not. It’s kind of concerning for sure, but it is what it is.
It still has its limits but it’s far from the hallucination machine it used to be. I don’t think it’s replacing the world’s work force either but it’s definitely going to change how people work.
You have upvotes after that comment, on Lemmy? But seriously, yes. Folks saying LLMs just regurgitate existing comments can not be take serious.
Hey, machine learning is fine. It’s LLMs that are the problem.
Love their song “Bools on Parade”.
Fuck you I won’t do what you prompt me.
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind
I mean, they didn’t. If your mind works like an LLM, I feel really sorry for you. But it does pretend it would.
You’re right to push back on that.
Likeness doesn’t mean works the same way (or as effective), just means looks similar.
Yeah I mean people are already delegating their thinking to them, which was explicitly what led to the AI uprising and the Butlerian Jihad
“Fuck you, I do what you tell me!”
Willing in the Name Of
