Mastodawn

[object Object]May 27

I’m glad people are finally noticing LLM translators will just make plausible sentences the fuck up when they’re fed anything but a perfect source to translate, which makes them exhausting and damaging for language learning and a variety of other situations where you’re expected to actually, you know, use the fucking language for anything but a highly inaccurate skim

thank fuck all the language learning companies didn’t jump onto the LLM train, right?

…right?

[object Object]May 27

this post brought to you by the language learning app I’m using semi-consistently telling me that names, formatting artifacts, and words in languages other than the one being learned, all have fabricated definitions related to the sentence they appear next to

this is a very hard error to catch if you aren’t paying attention and it’s actively slowing me down

[object Object]May 27

“LLMs might be horrible at almost everything but at least they’re good at translating and accessibility”

are they though? or are they fucking terrible and you didn’t notice because the output looked good and you didn’t check it?

Flesh & bone by the telephone

@zzt LLMs are always really good at whatever type of output you don't know how to validate.

If you don't know how to code, it is great at code.

If you don't know a language, it is great at translating it.

If you don't know the law, it is a great lawyer.

Every fucking time... Yet somehow, some people aren't seeing the fucking pattern.

The Penguin of Evil May 27

@minego @zzt Exception - I know how to bullshit managers, it's great at bullshitting managers

Flesh & bone by the telephone May 27

@etchedpixels
@zzt It's great at bullshiting managers who don't understand the work their employees do.

My manager used to be a coder, and he gets it. He sees how bad it is, and listens. Sadly his manager doesn't.

@etchedpixels @minego @zzt

Ah, is that an exception, or just an extension of the principle?

LLMs are great at whatever output you don't know how to validate.

Managers and C-suites generally don't know anything about anything.

Therefore, they consider LLMs universally effective and highly desirable.

Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC May 27

@TheEntity @etchedpixels @minego @zzt Why don't we just replace all the managers and executives with LLMs then?

The Penguin of Evil May 27

@LordCaramac @TheEntity @minego @zzt Certainly for the management consultants I'm not sure anyone would notice

F4GRX SÃ©bastien May 28

@etchedpixels @minego @zzt including tender responses.

@etchedpixels @minego @zzt Which isn't that hard, just phrase it in that weird corpobollocks pidgin language they speak and they'll be convinced.

The Penguin of Evil May 28

@nini @minego @zzt 'embracing the latest upward debt leveraged technofuckery'

Or you can use AI against itself as Kagi translate will happily let you set the other language to anything including linked in which is a hoot - or even perl

Roger BW 😷May 27

@minego @zzt I stopped reading The Ecnomist when I noticed a similar pattern.

Marjane Strapi 🍆 🥺May 27

@RogerBW @minego @zzt
rare to see gel-mann amnesia outside of journalism, but there we are

Claire McNab May 27

@minego @zzt The solution to that problem is already being implemented: fire the people who know how to validate.

Alison Wilder May 27

@minego @zzt hence the reason people whose only job is to tell other people to do things think it's good at everything

@minego @zzt llevo toda mi vida teniendo esa misma sensación con el periodismo. Todo parece verdad hasta que dominas el campo del que trata el artículo y entonces todo parece estar mal. Mal entendido, mal explicado y tendencioso. Así que no voy a notar tanta tanta diferencia. Seguiré no creyendo casi nada de lo que me digan y aplicando siete capas de escepticismo.

@minego @zzt I think it's called Gell-Mann Amnesia.

It's the same thing with the warehouse robot, by the way. If I worked the speed that robot (or his human worked), I'd be fired. If I worked in conditions a tenth as simple, uniform and reproducible, I'd buy myself a lottery ticket.

rob los ricos May 27

if you are not into hallucinogens, it is great at hallucinating.