Simon WillisonSep 30, 2023

@doug We talk about that a fair bit in the podcast episode

I think the key to this is that it's actually quite difficult to use this stuff effectively - because it lays SO MANY traps for you, there are so many examples of things that it will get blatantly wrong, often in very convincing ways

Once you learn how to side-step those traps it becomes amazingly productive - but that takes quite a lot of effort

Show threadS. LottSep 30, 2023
@simon @doug having to learn how to sidestep problems doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement. Indeed it sounds very much like it adds new problems. It seems remarkably unhelpful to add problems that require deep expertise to sidestep.
Show threadSimon WillisonSep 30, 2023

@slott56 @doug Right: if someone tells you "LLMs are easy! They'll give you a huge productivity boost right out of the gate" then that person is misleading you

My message is "LLMs are surprisingly difficult to use. I have managed to get enormous productivity boosts after investing a lot of effort in learning how to use them effectively."

Show threadSimon WillisonSep 30, 2023
@slott56 @doug LLMs are a chainsaw disguised as a pair of scissors
Show threademaadOct 1, 2023
@simon @slott56 @doug can’t think of a single situation where I’d choose scissors over a chainsaw
Show threadSimon Willison
@emaad @slott56 @doug opening a package
Oct 1, 2023 at 1:09pmWeb