The main difference is that PCs actually worked as advertised, back in the day and the reason for this productivity dent wasn’t a false promise from the start. Before AI the main use of computers was of a deterministic nature, meaning you get a directly reproducible outcome depending on the input. AIs (especially: LLMs) are probabilistic in nature, the output cannot be guaranteed to be correct, and it turns out just bolting on guardrails on top of the system is a band-aid. In practice, instead of getting a general-purpose intelligent machine which is capable of making autonomous decisions, you get a word predictor with an unlimited amount of possible failure modes.
I also find that LLMs are mostly good at the parts of my job that i enjoy or that are too important to entrust to something that is right 80% of the time.
Tech boosters suggest using LLMs to draft emails. My job involves explaining mathematical ideas to (well educated) people who have less math training than i have. That part of the job is fun and challenging - why would i outsource a task that i like doing and am good at? “Everyday” emails are not important enough to stress about - i can dash them off as fast as i can write a prompt.
The first time i used a computer instead of a typewriter to compose something, i knew that the world had changed. all that AI has changed is that i now doubt every article and picture i see.
The main difference is that PCs actually worked as advertised, back in the day and the reason for this productivity dent wasn’t a false promise from the start. Before AI the main use of computers was of a deterministic nature, meaning you get a directly reproducible outcome depending on the input. AIs (especially: LLMs) are probabilistic in nature, the output cannot be guaranteed to be correct, and it turns out just bolting on guardrails on top of the system is a band-aid. In practice, instead of getting a general-purpose intelligent machine which is capable of making autonomous decisions, you get a word predictor with an unlimited amount of possible failure modes.
Good summary.
I also find that LLMs are mostly good at the parts of my job that i enjoy or that are too important to entrust to something that is right 80% of the time.
Tech boosters suggest using LLMs to draft emails. My job involves explaining mathematical ideas to (well educated) people who have less math training than i have. That part of the job is fun and challenging - why would i outsource a task that i like doing and am good at? “Everyday” emails are not important enough to stress about - i can dash them off as fast as i can write a prompt.
The first time i used a computer instead of a typewriter to compose something, i knew that the world had changed. all that AI has changed is that i now doubt every article and picture i see.