Rod Hilton

Does anyone else have zero interest in chatbot-based search for reasons entirely unrelated to ethics, disinformation, overhype, or monopolization?

I just want to formulate a query that deterministically gives me the information I want.

If I wanted to have a fucking conversation with someone I wouldn't be sitting at my computer.

Who are all these extraverted weirdos who want all their machine interactions to feel like talking to people?

Feb 15, 2023 at 4:56pmTusky
Show threadAndyFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton ChatGTP is friendlier than Stack Overflow
Show threadCurtis CarterFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton Self-Checkout, online shopping, order food on apps. Chatting with anyone let alone an AI seems like a waste of time unless I'm genuinely looking for social interaction. I'm fine with algorithms used to suggest items to me, but if I know what I want, I don't want to spend several minutes describing it to a chat bot. Give me a search and some decent filter options any day.
Show threadNicanFeb 15, 2023

@rodhilton One trend that I dislike over and over again is the need of people to use automation to select and structure data.

Data is hard. Data is complicated. Data is nuanced.

Projects like Wikipedia is a godsend, because it uses humans to sort through data, organize it, and review it.

I like https://www.dolthub.com/ - for attempting to structure and curate more data.

But in general, I have seen way too often people trying to take analysis out of garbage, and get garbage reports out.

Show threadJerome (He/Him)Feb 16, 2023

@nican @rodhilton I’m biased because I work for an NLP company. Here’s my take — We’re lucky to have Wikipedia, but the knowledge within it is accessible only by humans, and only by reading.

This is not particularly efficient for research tasks, unless you plan to read a lot and hand translate the knowledge into a data format you can work with. Automating the structuring of data solves this problem quite well at scale.

Show threadPete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫Feb 15, 2023
@rodhilton I definitely don't want more interactions with unreliable bullshitters, let alone automated ones.
Show threadscottfinesFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton A cursory glance at the other results makes me think it's an incredibly inefficient way of delivering information.
Show threadAndres JalintonFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton
I like the idea that *for now* chatbots give you answers (mostly wrong answers) but they don't try to sell you stuff.
Show threadDawidFeb 16, 2023
@Andres @rodhilton I wonder how quickly it will change. Also, I'm wondering when chat-oriented SEO will appear.
Show threadMike WiresFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton Being able to type or ask a question in a more natural way and then receive an answer is superior (IMO) to tokenized search queries and a list of results. Of course, if the answer is just bs... 😕
Show threadMika on rails Feb 15, 2023
@rodhilton This. Already hate product websites with their silly chatbots that just slow down the process of getting an actual answer.
Show threadJustin SkistsFeb 15, 2023

@rodhilton I still dream that one day computers will just do want you want and make life easier.

Chat bots, having to order food/drink from a QR code on the table, self-service tills, paying for the carpark via a phone app,... all a fecking chore.

Show threadLinker3000Feb 15, 2023

@rodhilton

That's interesting. Tell me why you feel that way.

//Not really Eliza

Show threadDreaFeb 15, 2023
@rodhilton I work in research and I’ve played around with ChatGPT. It’s a fancy way to Google stuff, and presents the information as being way more reliable than it actually is. Sure, it can pull some things together, but where it really fails is drawing actual, real-world connections between disparate things and extrapolating on how various facts work together. I think @viticci did a fantastic job describing this on the recent #AppStories podcast.
Show threadFrank Bennett 🇯🇵Feb 16, 2023
@rodhilton Extra points for "If I wanted to have a fucking conversation with someone I wouldn't be sitting at my computer."
Show threadJerome (He/Him)Feb 16, 2023

@rodhilton there’s a scene in the movie Time Machine where Guy Pearce’s character talks to an AI librarian in 2030. The AI librarian is able to find and access knowledge to answer all kinds of questions.

Something like this is probably the vision people have when it comes to search.

Show threadMaarten PelgrimFeb 16, 2023
@rodhilton hehe, yeah I've been having similar thoughts: why does an AI powered Chatbot make for a better search engine?. It might not be....
Show threadCaryFeb 16, 2023
@rodhilton Just make boolean operators work again...
Show threadDawidFeb 16, 2023
@rodhilton I used chatGPT a bit, and I also got access to Bing Chat. But all I do there is playing with it.
But when it comes for getting informations, I prefer 1000x times more "good, old search". I don't get how chatting with computer can be better than that.
Show thread🦋 Dana The Elf 🦋Feb 17, 2023

@rodhilton I can see the application for it, but like most things it's a tool - and like any tool for finding information, it's a very good idea to verify the first answers you find by looking deeper and not just trusting a single source blindly.

Tom Scott's video was the real "aha" moment for me, on its application - being able to simply ask a machine why it did something a certain way *and get a plain answer* is definitely going to be useful in certain circumstances.