Recently I gave my first ever presentation at iO. It was about what it actually feels like to be a junior developer in a world where AI is just always there. This is a write-up of that talk, including what the room said back.
Recently I gave my first ever presentation at iO. It was about what it actually feels like to be a junior developer in a world where AI is just always there. This is a write-up of that talk, including what the room said back.
I’ve never used a LLM willingly, and otherwise avoid interaction with them where possible.
My base impression from interacting with those who actively choose to use LLMs, and unironically call them ‘AI’, is they’re a competency and credibility chipper.
It’s one thing to leverage a tool, where it makes sense for a task, and can otherwise be justified, but there’s a carcinogenic effect on cognition at play with prolonged exposure to whatever form LLMs are in today.
Also, happy 29th anniversary of Judgement Day.
I’m critical about a few points of LLMs (such as data stealing and licencing issues, big companies controlling online only and destroying environments and buy all RAM and so on), but not entirely against it.
Just wanted to say that the current LLMs we have are the closest thing to an Ai we ever had. Now what does the word artificial intelligence mean? And that’s it, the word is something different based on definition and context. There is no single correct definition for this word. We also used the term Ai way long before LLMs. And they were Ai too, let alone we use it still. In example in videogames we have Ai in form of NPCs or enemies. That is a completely different definition and technology of the word, but its the same word as used by LLMs.
Maybe you are thinking off general AGI? Because that is a whole lot of different conversation, AGI and self awareness. If you think in those terms, sure, then its laughable to talk about Ai being somewhat intelligent. I personally see LLMs as auto complete with very complex algorithms and huge databases behind it. And that is one form of Ai.
For me, a core requirement for intelligence is comprehension, something a LLM is intrinsically incapable of possessing nor performing.
‘Artificial Intelligence’ has been used for decades, but it has never functionally been anything more than a marketing term; originally conjured for a grant proposal, and subsequently oozed into entertainment and politics.
No one who is impressed by the function, or output, of a LLM to the level they consider it to be in any way adjacent to intelligence, should be involved in a decision making process which affects anyone not similarly cognitively impaired.
I think the way the word Ai we used in the past for computer programs and games, and with the modern LLM is, we actually mean “the illusion of an intelligence”. Because that is what the term Ai in most cases mean. Ai is as much of an illusion like VR is not a real reality. Maybe we should have called it Vi, for Virtual Intelligence. But that is just yapping about the words, where their meaning doesn’t change just because you use a different word.
Yes, there are lot of people who don’t understand the technology and think Ai is comparable to the way how “real” intelligence work. But in reality it is just perceived to be intelligent, making it a virtual illusion of it.