6 ms·

I think you're focusing on a few narrow examples where LLMs are underperforming and generalising about the technology as a whole. This ignores the fact that Mic

I think you're focusing on a few narrow examples where LLMs are underperforming and generalising about the technology as a whole. This ignores the fact that Microsoft already has a succesful LLM-based product in the market with Github Copilot. It's a real tool (not a party-trick technology) that people actually pay for and use every day. Search is one application, and it might be crap right now, but for Microsoft it only needs to provide incremental value, for Google it's life or death. Microsoft is still better positioned in both the enterprise (Azure, Office365, Teams) and developer (Github, VSCode) markets.

FractalHQ 4y ago
Copilot mostly spews distracting nonsense, but when it’s useful (like with repetitive boilerplate where it doesn’t have to “think” much) it’s really nice. But if that’s the bar, I don’t think were ready for something like search, which is much more difficult and important to get right for the average person to get more good than harm from it.
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  Sometimes, Copilot is brilliant. I have encountered solutions that are miles better than anything i had found on the internet nor expected to find in the first place. The issue involved heavy numerical computation with numpy, and it found a library call for that that covered exactly my issue.
  - lordnacho 4y ago
    I've had similar experiences. Sometimes it just knows what you want and saves you a minute searching. Sometimes way more than a minute. But I find it also hallucinates in code, coming up with function calls that aren't in the API but would sound like a natural thing to call. Overall it's a positive though, it's pretty easy to tell for your other coding tools if the suggestion is for something made up, and the benefits of filling in your next little thought are very real.
- nightski 4y ago
  Google's search results are pretty terrible. I actually have a hard time telling which is a result and which is an ad anymore tbh. I really don't think the bar is that high.
  - lopatin 4y ago
    Maybe the internet is actually that terrible now, and Google is just the messenger?
    - jonathankoren 4y ago
      The internet has been terrible since Yahoo dominated search. In fact, it was the glut of SEO nonsense like keyword stuffing is that PageRank countered. If Google search sucks, someone will make one that doesn’t suck, and people will switch.
      - minsc_and_boo 4y ago
        Search still relies on content that doesn't suck though, and like GP said, if the internet today sucks, then the competing search will also suck.
      - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
        The internet is fucking awesome, and has been for decades.
      - anothernewdude 4y ago
        The profit incentive is for search to suck. Making it shitty is what brings in the money.
    - soiler 4y ago
      The internet is terrible and Google is the reason.
      - soiler 4y ago
- lolinder 4y ago
  Few people seem to know this, but you can disable auto-suggest in Copilot, so it only suggests things when you proactively ask it to. I only prompt it when I know it will be helpful and it's a huge time saver when used that way.
- 2c2c2c 4y ago
  do you consider things like extrapolating out the else half out of an if-else given the if half as boilerplate? these tools are incredible productivity boosts if you leverage them well. here's a sample from gpt: a low effort question and a code dump that would get you flamed on stackoverflow. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/263091858505334784/1075178886687625246/image.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/263091858505334784/10... I love it. As long as we continue to use these tools as augmentive, it's just going to get better and better
snickerbockers 4y ago
>a few narrow examples It's Microsoft's own advertisement.

FractalHQ 4y ago

Copilot mostly spews distracting nonsense, but when it’s useful (like with repetitive boilerplate where it doesn’t have to “think” much) it’s really nice. But if that’s the bar, I don’t think were ready for something like search, which is much more difficult and important to get right for the average person to get more good than harm from it.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
Sometimes, Copilot is brilliant. I have encountered solutions that are miles better than anything i had found on the internet nor expected to find in the first place. The issue involved heavy numerical computation with numpy, and it found a library call for that that covered exactly my issue.
- lordnacho 4y ago
  I've had similar experiences. Sometimes it just knows what you want and saves you a minute searching. Sometimes way more than a minute. But I find it also hallucinates in code, coming up with function calls that aren't in the API but would sound like a natural thing to call. Overall it's a positive though, it's pretty easy to tell for your other coding tools if the suggestion is for something made up, and the benefits of filling in your next little thought are very real.
nightski 4y ago
Google's search results are pretty terrible. I actually have a hard time telling which is a result and which is an ad anymore tbh. I really don't think the bar is that high.
- lopatin 4y ago
  Maybe the internet is actually that terrible now, and Google is just the messenger?
  - jonathankoren 4y ago
    The internet has been terrible since Yahoo dominated search. In fact, it was the glut of SEO nonsense like keyword stuffing is that PageRank countered. If Google search sucks, someone will make one that doesn’t suck, and people will switch.
    - minsc_and_boo 4y ago
      Search still relies on content that doesn't suck though, and like GP said, if the internet today sucks, then the competing search will also suck.
    - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
      The internet is fucking awesome, and has been for decades.
    - anothernewdude 4y ago
      The profit incentive is for search to suck. Making it shitty is what brings in the money.
  - soiler 4y ago
    The internet is terrible and Google is the reason.
    - soiler 4y ago
lolinder 4y ago
Few people seem to know this, but you can disable auto-suggest in Copilot, so it only suggests things when you proactively ask it to. I only prompt it when I know it will be helpful and it's a huge time saver when used that way.
2c2c2c 4y ago
do you consider things like extrapolating out the else half out of an if-else given the if half as boilerplate? these tools are incredible productivity boosts if you leverage them well. here's a sample from gpt: a low effort question and a code dump that would get you flamed on stackoverflow. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/263091858505334784/1075178886687625246/image.png https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/263091858505334784/10... I love it. As long as we continue to use these tools as augmentive, it's just going to get better and better

snickerbockers 4y ago

>a few narrow examples It's Microsoft's own advertisement.