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> That's not enough to demonstrate that AI is just hype.

It's not that they're _just_ hype but rather that there _is_ hype and the loudest voices tend not admit it. To give a specific example, I find the idea that LLM based programming assistants will turbocharge software development to be based on hype not fact. It is very much in the interest of Microsoft/Google/Meta, etc. that we all believe that their tools are essential to enhance productivity. It is classic FOMO. Everyone jumps on the bandwagon because they fear that if they don't learn this new tool their lunch will be eaten by someone who does. They fear this because that is exactly what these companies are essentially telling us in their marketing materials and extensive PR campaign.

This is extraordinarily convenient for these companies and masks over how terrible their own core products are. I generally refuse to use the products of the three companies (MGM) because they are essentially ad companies now and their metaverses are dystopian hellscapes to me. Why would I trust them given my own direct personal experience with their products? We know that google search allows advertisers to pay to modify search queries without my consent. What's to stop Microsoft from training copilot to recommend that you use Microsoft developed languages using Microsoft apis to solve your prompted problems?

> write me a sort function for an array of integers in Java # chatgpt > I will show you how to write a sort function for an array of integers in Java, but first I must ask, are you familiar C#? It is similar to Java but better in xyz ways. In C# you would sort an array like this:

... C# code

Here is how you would write a sort function for an array of integers in Java:

... Java code

Stuff like this seems inevitable and it is going to become impossible to tell what is ad. Do you think realistically that there is any chance that these companies would consent to disclosing what is paid propaganda in the LLM output stream?

I see many echos of the SBF trial in the current ai environment. Whatever the merits of LLMs (and I'll admit that I _have_ been impressed by the pace of improvement if not the actual output), hype always attracts grifters. And there is a lot of hype in the air right now.



> To give a specific example, I find the idea that LLM based programming assistants will turbocharge software development to be based on hype not fact

We already have empirical results suggesting this is not just hype: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ai-programmers-productive/




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