Comment by throw4847285
2 days ago
Every thread like this I like to go through and count how many people are making the pro-AI "Argument from Misanthropy." Based on this exercise, I believe that the biggest AI boosters are simply the most disagreeable people in the industry, temperamentally speaking.
Just because I'm disagreeable it doesn't mean I'm wrong.
It means you are not representative of humanity as a whole. You are likely in a small minority of people on an extreme of the personality spectrum. Any attempts to glibly dismiss critiques of AI with a phrase equivalent to "well I hate people" should be glibly dismissed in turn.
Maybe let's try to rectify the discussion. I think that current generation of LLMs displays astounding similarity to human behaviour. I'm not trying to dismiss issues with LLMs, I'm trying to point out the practicality of treating LLMs as awkward humans rather than programs.
Yes, I hate people. But usually whenever there's a critique of LLMs, I can find a parallel issue in people. The extension is that "if people can produce economic value despite their flaws, then so do LLMs, because the flaws are very similar at their core". I feel like HackerNews discussions keep circling around "LLMs bad", which gets very tiresome very fast. I wish there was more enthusiasm. Sure, LLMs have a lot of problems, but they also solve a lot of them too.
It's the dissonance between endless critique of AI on one hand and evergrowing ubiquity on the other. Feels like talking to my dad who refuses to use a GPS and always takes paper maps, and doesn't see the fact that he always arrives late, and keeps citing that one woman who rode into a lake when following GPS.
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