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One of the best uses of Perplexity.ai! Pasted your text https://www.bicycling.com/news/a26081001/cyclist-turned-bank-robber-tom-justice/ https://www.bicycling.

by orzig 2y ago

One of the best uses of Perplexity.ai! Pasted your text https://www.bicycling.com/news/a26081001/cyclist-turned-bank-robber-tom-justice/ https://www.bicycling.com/news/a26081001/cyclist-turned-bank...

pimlottc 2y ago
You can just Google for “cyclist who robbed banks”, AI isn’t really necessary for this.
- redeux 2y ago
  You can just use Gopher, you don’t need Google for this. I’m being flippant, obviously but my point is that every now and then a new technology comes along that supplants and older one because it offers a meaningful improvement over the last. AI search vs traditional web search is definitely one of those.
  - pessimizer 2y ago
    It's just as easy or easier to google "cyclist who robbed banks."
    - redeux 2y ago
      You’re not thinking through the whole experience. The search itself is just as easy, sure. You can type the same query into both systems. The difference is in the results. Traditional web search will then return a set of links which may or may not answer you query, it’s up you you to parse them and figure out if they have the content you need or if you need to rephrase your query and try again. AI on the other hand will parse the results for you and return the answer to your prompt directly. That’s a meaningful improvement.
      - th0ma5 2y ago
        If it is not 100% based in reality then no, it isn't.
      - akira2501 2y ago
        > AI on the other hand will parse the results for you and return the answer to your prompt directly. Yep! And that's going to save you _one whole step_ when you're posting meaningless follow ups in forums filled with technical users who would have had no problem getting the information themselves. > That’s a meaningful improvement. It's a marginal improvement to the least meaningful activity that occurs on a daily basis. So, it's totally worth the trillions that have been invested in it. :|
  - thfuran 2y ago
    Even if that's true, the example definitely isn't proof of that given that the old technology seems to handle the problem just fine.
    - revscat 2y ago
      If they each give the correct answer in the same number of steps then there’s no reason to prefer one over the other.
      - KMag 2y ago
        My multiple experiences with ChatGPT hallucination, even at minimum temperature, leaves me preferring a web search answer. Just last week, jq hallucinated three different jq syntaxes that failed to parse. That being said, I had been using web search for several years looking for the Get Smart episode I had seen as a kid in the 1980s where the enemy agent explains that he can't give up his suicide ring because "That's how it works, if I take it off, my wife will kill me." Google Bard found the episode on the first try. So, I tend to fall back to LLMs only when search engines fail me.
      - hn_version_0023 2y ago
        Mental inertia is the phrase I use for preferring the one you learned first
      - onlytime 2y ago
        Power usage, latency, ethical concerns.
  - bongo1000 2y ago
    Which is not the case here -- just simply "googling" would provide the right answer.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- refulgentis 2y ago
  which is exactly what Perplexity did. I am saying this out loud because it'll be a few years before people wrap their mind around the circus over there. not because its awesome. 1) pay google scraper api (~1000 searches/$1) 2) run the crappiest llm people won't notice is crap 3) vc dollars 4) buy users by any means necessary 5) rope some earnest people into $40/month rinse, lather, repeat
mrbluecoat 2y ago
Hilarious career path: social work > Catholic priesthood > underwater welding > robbing banks
aaronharnly 2y ago
That story seems to be a brief summary, which points to a fuller article here: https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2019/Bicycle-Bank-Robber-Tom-Justice/ https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2019/Bi...
liendolucas 2y ago
Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29037860 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29037860 (excellent article).
npteljes 2y ago
People might not like the AI plug, but personally this is the one use-case I find AI the most helpful to me. The ability to query general knowledge, with natural language, often not knowing what the hell I'm talking about. And the results don't have advertisements, which I also really appreciate.

by orzig 2y ago

pimlottc 2y ago

You can just Google for “cyclist who robbed banks”, AI isn’t really necessary for this.

redeux 2y ago
You can just use Gopher, you don’t need Google for this. I’m being flippant, obviously but my point is that every now and then a new technology comes along that supplants and older one because it offers a meaningful improvement over the last. AI search vs traditional web search is definitely one of those.
- pessimizer 2y ago
  It's just as easy or easier to google "cyclist who robbed banks."
  - redeux 2y ago
    You’re not thinking through the whole experience. The search itself is just as easy, sure. You can type the same query into both systems. The difference is in the results. Traditional web search will then return a set of links which may or may not answer you query, it’s up you you to parse them and figure out if they have the content you need or if you need to rephrase your query and try again. AI on the other hand will parse the results for you and return the answer to your prompt directly. That’s a meaningful improvement.
    - th0ma5 2y ago
      If it is not 100% based in reality then no, it isn't.
    - akira2501 2y ago
      > AI on the other hand will parse the results for you and return the answer to your prompt directly. Yep! And that's going to save you _one whole step_ when you're posting meaningless follow ups in forums filled with technical users who would have had no problem getting the information themselves. > That’s a meaningful improvement. It's a marginal improvement to the least meaningful activity that occurs on a daily basis. So, it's totally worth the trillions that have been invested in it. :|
- thfuran 2y ago
  Even if that's true, the example definitely isn't proof of that given that the old technology seems to handle the problem just fine.
  - revscat 2y ago
    If they each give the correct answer in the same number of steps then there’s no reason to prefer one over the other.
    - KMag 2y ago
      My multiple experiences with ChatGPT hallucination, even at minimum temperature, leaves me preferring a web search answer. Just last week, jq hallucinated three different jq syntaxes that failed to parse. That being said, I had been using web search for several years looking for the Get Smart episode I had seen as a kid in the 1980s where the enemy agent explains that he can't give up his suicide ring because "That's how it works, if I take it off, my wife will kill me." Google Bard found the episode on the first try. So, I tend to fall back to LLMs only when search engines fail me.
    - hn_version_0023 2y ago
      Mental inertia is the phrase I use for preferring the one you learned first
    - onlytime 2y ago
      Power usage, latency, ethical concerns.
- bongo1000 2y ago
  Which is not the case here -- just simply "googling" would provide the right answer.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
refulgentis 2y ago
which is exactly what Perplexity did. I am saying this out loud because it'll be a few years before people wrap their mind around the circus over there. not because its awesome. 1) pay google scraper api (~1000 searches/$1) 2) run the crappiest llm people won't notice is crap 3) vc dollars 4) buy users by any means necessary 5) rope some earnest people into $40/month rinse, lather, repeat

mrbluecoat 2y ago

Hilarious career path: social work > Catholic priesthood > underwater welding > robbing banks

aaronharnly 2y ago

That story seems to be a brief summary, which points to a fuller article here: https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2019/Bicycle-Bank-Robber-Tom-Justice/ https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2019/Bi...

liendolucas 2y ago

Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29037860 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29037860 (excellent article).

npteljes 2y ago

People might not like the AI plug, but personally this is the one use-case I find AI the most helpful to me. The ability to query general knowledge, with natural language, often not knowing what the hell I'm talking about. And the results don't have advertisements, which I also really appreciate.