• 9 Posts
  • 223 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: September 21st, 2023

help-circle








  • I think the main thing is even if they were using the same underlying model (like chatgpt or Claude), they give them different prompts. For example, the one you linked seems more clearly prompted to give you a humorous roast style summary. Just from the screenshot from Reddit I get the impression they gave it a prompt about “you are an assistant for community moderators who are evaluating what course to take with a user” or something like that.




  • Besides the other commenter highlighting the specific nature of the linked study, I will say I’m generally doing technical queries where if the answer is wrong, it’s apparent because the AI suggestion doesn’t work. Think “how do I change this setting” or “what’s wrong with the syntax in this line of code”. If I try the AI’s advice and it doesn’t work, then I ask again or try something else.

    I would be more concerned about subjects where I don’t have any domain knowledge whatsoever, and not working on a specific application of knowledge, because then it could be a long while before I realize the response was wrong.



  • Lots of legitimate concerns and issues with AI, but if you’re going to criticize someone saying they used it you should at least understand how it works so your criticism is applicable.

    It is useful. Chatgpt performs web searches, then summarizes the results in a way customized to what you asked it. It skips the step where you have to sift through a bunch of results and determine “is this what I was looking for?” and “how does this apply to my specific context?”

    Of course it can and does still get things wrong. It’s crazy to market it as a new electronic god. But it’s not random, and it’s right the majority of the time.





  • Let’s skip the “I have no basic survival skills” part (also skipping disease) and assume we find a nearby group of humans. If you approach first contact carefully they’d probably let you live with them in exchange for labor, giving you time to learn the language.

    I think I have enough ambient exposure to modern technology that I could contribute at least 3-4 major innovations to my group over a couple decades. The challenge would be conveying and implementing ideas more than remembering them. You’re not going to get back to modern standards of living in your remaining time traveled years no matter how much you remember, but what little you can impart to others would earn your keep.

    I don’t know what all the innovations would be, but germ theory and pasteurization come to mind.