Ask HN: Anyone else find LLM related posts causing them to lose interest in HN
Loved this site for a long time, always felt like I could come to learn something interesting and find niche topics and experts.
Feels like posts have overwhelmingly been on LLMs for the past few years and I've just lost interest.
Makes me sad, this was really my favorite site.
126 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 222 ms ] threadSaw an Upwork post the other day looking for someone to fix merge conflicts in 20 Devin created PR's. =)
P.S. I enjoy your content, keep hacking away at funky projects!
keyword BUBBLE. I beg fresher minds PLEASE carefully disect?
What we (easily) see correlates with the cliche' "Tip of the Iceberg". Sentient souls natrually grasp this metaphor, analogy, simile...
Better: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/something_is_rotten_in_the_st...
Kind reader. When this bubble bursts what takes place afterward?
I think it's the most annoying one. We are spammed by Bootstrap/Tailwind-styled closed-source wrappers around the API currently hyped (with Google login, and pricing page, all the time).
We would be legitimately angry if we were flooded with "Here is some random ClosedSource.exe application, run it on your computer" because that would not improve anything, but for some reason web sites are OK.
Not saying that there is interesting bits in LLM research, it is just completely drowned out by the hype chasers whl smell the next gold rush.
* Explosion of social media
* JavaScript libraries and the frontend revolution to modernizing the web and browsers
* Mobile apps
* Crypto
* Machine Learning
and now, AI & LLMs.
The only difference LLMs have with the others is the learning curve. The others, one could easily hop on the trend. With LLMs, before being able to understand what everyone's talking about, there's a lot to know. There can be a sense of being left out. I think that can be demotivating.
edit: formatting
Obviously there was a a million crypto posts and it was annoying but crypto covered a specific niche of overall software stuff (payment processing).
With LLMs it feels like every topic somehow has to come back to LLMs.
I currently work as a ML Eng at FAANG so maybe it adds to my exhaustion on the topic.
Same here, for sure. I just try to dodge it all as best I can. Seems like every question has the possible answer of LLMs, and nearly always, someone provides it.
Oh right, that must just be because I'm not giving it the magic prompt that makes them magically turn into geniuses.
The new problem is this only works when you can verify the answers.
At the time it was everything blockchain. Not just payments. Decentralized, smart contracts and the like.
I just don't see why every time we need to go through the incredible hype / death cycle.
LLMs are a useful tool if used properly, I hope I start seeing them used to create distinct value.
Any HN topic now just feels like a small jump to LLMs.
I recognize my above is a bit of a strawman, hard to recall exact posts / comments over the years.
I find it to be the exact opposite. The idea of "Artificial Intelligence" as a thinking machine is fascinating. However, now that i learned a certain amount about this current neural network paradigm, the marketing magic of it as an intelligent system is gone, it is no longer interesting to me. These models are just some dry big-data statistical machinery to me.
I think many people find it interesting precisely because they dont understand it and think there is some magic in there. Of course when hype is stupid and people think the singularity is coming then it sounds a lot more interesting
The frontier models (of which R1 is an example) « think » in much the same way a human would - look at their chain of thought output). I think if you shut down LLMs in your head because you think you « understand » them and there’s nothing interesting there, then you’re blinded by hubris.
This is the kind of current rhetoric that has me not coming to HN as often.
Any neurobiologist would laugh at the notion that the brain is a big dry statistical machinery.
Classic case of engineers talking outside of their expertise.
I am no expert, and I am well aware that even experts have much to learn about it. It is interesting in its own way, like statistics is too. I don't feel like that changes anything.
Half the post about AI are telling us how good prompts should make me a 10x engineer, or I made this app in 5 minutes and I don't know how to code. At least for JS and, god forbid, crypto, there was some effort required.
Every one of those examples is a genereal tech that could be used for better or worse, but that have almost exclusively been used to more effectively exploit users.
As is always the case, what's good for the VC investor is not necessarily good for everyone...
But I just got tired of adding new AI topics to the filter.
1) Wordpress Original 2) Wordpress no AI/LLM/ML 3) Wordpress ONLY AI/LLM/ML
I would choose 2) in a heartbeat.
I really loved seeing what things people were up to, not the latest headline from trillion dollar company or the US government.
It might seem that LLMs have sucked all the air out of the room, this is why. If you find LLMs boring, you are in for a very boring couple of decades - because it's not going away.
Of course, once you actually try to use it for any real work that isn't a toy project with a trillion examples online, you very quickly run into the myriad of flaws. But they're not using it deeply like that, they're just interested in how they can cut costs or prop up their own product by wow-ing other managers with AI features even if they don't make a lick of sense from an end-user perspective.
This isn't even to say it's completely useless, just that the hype and marketing is so insanely divergent from the reality, it's shocking. For me, it's at best a 5% productivity boost for very specific tasks like formatting structured text or something like that, but I wouldn't say that justifies a 500 billion dollar investment...
It’s not “just managers”. People are legit using copilot and it is saving time and helping develop better code. There are 100+ engineers in my company using it. And it’s not just copiloting, it is better than Wikipedia for explaining RFCs or academic papers. That is very important for ramping people when they can interactively ask hundreds of questions to learn about something without bothering top engineers.
You really need to actually get some real world experience as not just pop off.
Anyone who refers to LLMs as “stochastic parrots” has made their choice and is not interested in understand what areas can benefit and what areas cannot. They’re just scared and ignorant.
I do use chatgpt/claude for quickly creating first draftw of frontend pages as I find it quicker, but I have to do extensive edits to get it right. But anything non-boiler plate I am faster writing it myself.
I have also quickly found it is a stochastic parrot but that's ok for boilerplate stuff. It is useless at anything complicated and quickly starts hallucinating methods, parameters and functions when you point out problems with the code.
I am beginning to believe that anything niche, where it can't steal from its training data, and it will always be utterly useless.
I am curious how you feel it's so important to 100+ engineers, how do you use it that makes it effective for you?
LLMs are a totally useful tool! They definitely help me write all the bash scripts I consistently forget.
But the deep stuff where the value lies? It starts to fall apart quickly.
I suspect the next refrain is gonna be along the lines of me using it wrong, or using the wrong model, or the wrong prompt, or this or that. At the end of the day, if even after arduously trying to use it pretty much daily I still find all the models so far useless for real work, then no amount of fanboyism is going to convince me to disregard the reality of it as I experience it.
I can write the most insanely in-depth prompt on the planet (wasting 10 minutes of my time in the process), and 9 times out of 10 the reply I get is barely any more coherent than a single sentence along the lines of "Give me X" would've given me back.
> it is better than Wikipedia for explaining RFCs or academic papers.
I dread the future we're creating where people are relying on LLMs to parse RFCs or papers.
> Anyone who refers to LLMs as “stochastic parrots” has made their choice and is not interested in understand what areas can benefit and what areas cannot.
You're arguing with a strawman as I haven't used the word stochastic or parrot anywhere in the comment you're replying to or have implied anything of the sort about LLMs, and I'm even saying that I don't think it's completely useless, just not nearly as useful as the hype would lead one to imagine. Did you perhaps put my comment through an LLM and thus were arguing against imaginary points that I never made?
> I dread the future we're creating where people are relying on LLMs to parse RFCs or papers.
Amen & Hallelujah (forgive) We're ALL Jock Tamshun's bairns ...
Hit yer FLAGGIT... I amn Scot's Arysh, that means "G__ Children"
Sad fact, this "future" got ahead of us.
Still, this story is far from over.
It is not we were sleeping only that AI / LLM has no need to.
Run THIS though whatever "DAVE I CAN'T DO... " boogalooz
Make WE understand.
How can this AI / LLM do" (PLz Follow along)
#1 slake THIRST ~ no drinking water, living beings? SHOW US put a water tank in a truck? What profit will ye' boogz gain there?
Please show verifiable proof AI has mitigated this NEED.
#2 How does said AI / LLM feed those STARVING rain Manna -food- (please forgive Western ref) for starved refugees? Wilderness?
Please present tangible proof.
#3 Explain (like I AM 5) how's this Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot BOOGALOO able to concieve a child?
Eaux dear, & hayell yeah I forkin went there but MANY would be grateful to see verifiable evidence this has been accomplished.
WE'll wait but we DO NEED TO KNOW
MAKE US UNDERTAND
Provide verifible tangible physical evidence.
What's 'AI' (et alia) bring to mitigate NEED.
Water,
Food.
Survival?
For Human LIFE?
Riddle US that, AI?
H-Sapiens (?) is no "Special species" What doth AI offer to ALL life on this 3r'd rock from the sun?
SHOW US HOW YOU CAN
Sincere Respects,
Virginwidow
AKA An0n.1984 AKA Ånne Äůghnimax
P.S. (post script, kids)
Per GBNF Teacher:
G__ Forgives. OUTLAWS DON'T. We simply help make certain nobody misses their interview
> I dread the future we're creating where people are relying on LLMs to parse RFCs or papers.
Amen & Hallelujah (plz allow western reference)
Arseh0lez in the mix? go ahead, Hit yer FLAGGIT
We're ALL Jock Tamshun's Bairns ... Meanin' "ALL G__ Children"
Myself are Scot's Arysh. Readers might be in China, Iraq, N. Korea. It still stands ~ ALL meanin' ALL Jock Tamshun's bairn. All means ALL, ya see?
That said, this story is far from over.
'AI' don't know peanut butter from cat poop
How'd AI / LLM do for IRL (in real life) Jeopardy - NO play on words.
Let's try THIRST (no water) for $100, Alex.
Has AI / LLM ever slaked THIRST ~ no drinking water? Living beings?? Did ever 'AI/LLM' put a water tank on a pickup truck? SHOW US (or What profit will ye' boogaloo's gain there?) We're open minded, simply SHOW US
How about Starvation for $500, Alex? WHOOPEE The Daily Double!
Has AI / LLM EVER fed the STARVING Or rain Manna (overlook Western ref) upon starving refugees? Wilderness? Please, (please?) show factual examples? PLEASe show us what AI/LLM has done to remedy this NEED
Let's try immaculate conception for $700 - Invoke our absent SArCASM flag -
Explain how's this Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot BOOGALOO AI might approximate companionship much less intimacy never mind concieve life. Merely curious
This is a Genuine need of all life forms (cockroaches included) even P. Dorov (telegram) ~ end snarkasm ~
Does there exist ANY verifiable evidivence supporting how this "AI / LLM" provides any HELP for the needs of ALL life, including even primates?
MAKE US UNDERTAND
Exactly (and be specific)
What does 'AI' (et alia) bring to mitigate fundamental NEED.
Water,
Food.
Company.
LIFE?
HOW DOES tHIS HELP
Genuinely & with Deep Sincerety we ask?
Sincere Respects,
Virginwidow
AKA An0n.1984 AKA Ånne Äůghnimax
And... While we're at it kids (acronyms baffle old folks) try GFOD. Try Urban Dictionary, Wikipedia. Giggle
If you mean "have you tried using an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude for doing development work", then you're wrong.
I'm very confident in saying this, both because I personally use AI for programming and get a lot of value from it, and also because almost everyone else I know in real life also uses AI for programming.
But also because there are dozens/hundreds of accounts of very good developers getting a lot of value from AI in their work.
So at this point, insisting AI products are terrible doesn't say much about the AI products, so much as it says something about your ability to get value out of them.
> I'm the CEO of Hipposys Ltd, a boutique Data & AI Engineering shop (www.hipposys.com). We specialize in building RAG systems, Data Warehouses, and anything else related to the intersection between Data & AI. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at edan@hipposys.com, and we can see if we are a good fit!
Secondly, you're confusing cause and effect. I've been in the industry for more than twenty years working on many different things, and my company has done mostly data engineering work for most of its existence, the AI engineering is a relatively-new (past year or so) shift.
I don't think highly of AI because I work in AI - I work in AI because I think highly of it!
if I was in the first cohort I would think long and hard how to move to the second…
If the posts are on LLMs the comments are going to be on LLMs.
But I agree with the notion the comments are the valuable part of HN, the topic is just a jumping off point.
I have no good answers to AI bullshit, none they want to hear at least.
Can't remember the last time I saw a company that wasn't hyping AI to hell and back.
This post included (or a consequence of).
It's helpful for me to understand the other side of the coin.
Where is the creativity? Are we doomed to solve every problem, technological, social, and political with an LLM now? Is this the slow descent into Idiocracy?
It's not that LLMs are bad, but they are just one topic in the vast world of different things.
There have been so many amazing insights on HN from users with such interesting backgrounds (nuclear engineering, bakers, musicians, etc). And it just feels like that's all collapsed into
"have you tested model-version-quant-subversion-domain? If you haven't you can't say anything"
Trends come and go. The stories and comments come and go. HN is constantly changing. You can’t attach yourself to how something was before. It will change again.
Thats just life.
I'm on year 9ish of HN, maybe I'm just hitting my first introspective point on the whole space.
I can see how the AI posts can get overbearing if you are in the /new trenches. I’d recommend stepping back and just view the top post rss for a bit.