Jeff AtwoodSep 28, 2025

bad news "AI bubble doomers". I've found the LLMs to be incredibly useful and reduce the workload (and/or make people much, MUCH more effective at their jobs with the "centaur" model).

Is it overhyped? FUCK Yes. Salespeople Gotta Always Be Closing. But this is NOTHING like the moronic Segway (I am still bitter about that crap), Cryptocurrency, which is all grifters and gamblers and criminals end-to-end, and the first dot-com bubble where not NEARLY enough people had broadband or even internet access, plus the logistics systems to support shipping products was nowhere REMOTELY where it is today.

If you are expecting this "AI bubble" to pop anytime soon, uh.. you might be waiting a bit longer than you think? Overhyped, yes, overbuilding, sure, but not remotely a true bubble any any of the same senses of the three examples I listed above 👆. There's something very real, very practical, very useful here, and it is getting better every day.

If you find this uncomfortable, I'm sorry, but I know what I know, and I can cite several dozen very specific examples in the last 2-3 weeks where it saved me, or my team, quite a bit of time.

Show threadSeth RichardsSep 28, 2025

@codinghorror “I can cite several dozen very specific examples in the last 2-3 weeks where it saved me, or my team, quite a bit of time.”

Please do, if you can. Because most time I’ve tried to use LLMs for work the error rate ends up costing me MORE time than I would have spent without, and most AI boosters are short on specifics. We just had a presentation at my job on how we all need to be using AI with no case studies of how it’s actually been useful so far.

Show threadJeff AtwoodSep 28, 2025

@sethrichards here's one: a friend confided he is unhoused, and it is difficult for him. I asked ChatGPT to summarize local resources to deal with this (how do you get ANY id without a valid address, etc, chicken/egg problem) and it did an outstanding, amazing job. I printed it out, marked it up, and gave it to him.

Here's two: GiveDirectly did two GMI studies, Chicago and Cook County and we were very unclear what the relationship was, or why they did it that way. ChatGPT also knocked this out park and saved Tia a lot of time finding that information out, so she was freed up to focus on other work.

I could go on and on and on. Email me if you want ~12 more specific examples. With citations.

But also realize this: I am elite at asking very good, well specified, very clear, well researched questions, because we built Stack Overflow.

You want to get good at LLMS? learn how to ask better questions of evil genies. I was raised on that. 🧞

Show threadMarcos DioneSep 29, 2025

@codinghorror @sethrichards when I was in uni we learned about specifying pres and posts to out functions as contracts and a way to derivate the algorithm from the post to the pre. Not only the derivation was already hard, sometimes defining the pre and post was as hard to define as solving the problem in the first place.

1/

Show threadMarcos DioneSep 29, 2025

@codinghorror @sethrichards

And now you're saying that you not only have to double check every answer, you also have to be very good at asking the question to begin with? And these tools get the answers wrong if you don't? And they're released to the unsuspecting, untrained, I-have-no-free-spoons general public?

Show threadJeff AtwoodSep 30, 2025
@mdione @sethrichards not exactly. They don't get it wrong, most people's questions are fairly rudimentary. Just ask anyone who works the help desk at {any company I can think of}
Show threademeritrix

@codinghorror

they don't get it wrong?

so all the stories about "hallucinations" are fake news?

Oct 3, 2025 at 12:50amWeb