Forgive the smelly domain.
This is a fantastic short essay by Rich Hickey.
“‘AI’ is not a tool”… the people who use LLMs are.
I’m not sure I agree with this
A drive-thru is not a tool for cooking, it is automation for avoiding cooking. LLMs are not tools with which you write code - they are automation with which you avoid writing code
Is a microwave automation? What about ovens with timers? Do I need to know how to use a frying pan to know cooking?
Are you actually writing code if you use compilers instead of assembly? Do you need to know the output of your compiler to know coding? LLMs cannot replace understanding code the same way compilers cannot replace understanding assembly, but both of them are layers of abstraction that both make dubious guesses about what you actually want in their output.
You should still learn how to write code AND assembly btw, but I disagree with this guy’s definition of tool
What?
Maybe it’s pedantic, but he’s narrowly right. Cooking and drive-thrus are different.
If you say you want to be fed and both achieve that end, that’s true. But the metaphor is apt since drive-thrus give you junk food the way LLMs give you junk software and leave you feeling bad and wondering what went into it.
Cooking for yourself gives you better control over the inputs and process.
Is a dishwasher a tool for washing dishes or automation of dish washing? If it’s a tool then I don’t see how LLMs aren’t, in both cases you do some set up, tell it to go, and inspect the result for if its acceptable. If its automation then it shows that automation can be a good thing when done well and the moral panic around it is just “its bad when the thing I like as an educated person is automated”.
I fed your post to my LLM and it said to wash dishes by hand since it’s more thorough.
Thanks for that, very useful point promoting interesting discussions.
Wow, a rare sane take from LinkedIn.
