I don't think that a couple papers counts for much of anything. A couple scientific articles form an opinion about a topic. The evidence shown in those papers are certainly something to think about, but there hasn't been enough time or effort put into the use of understanding how AI technologies aide technical work and the ability to solve more complex problems to make some sort of suggested claim that it is inherently bad.
Compare this body of work to the body of work that has consistently showed social media is bad for you and has done so for many years. You will see a difference. Or if you prefer to focus on something more physical, anthropogenic climate change, the evidence for the standard model of particle physics, the evidence for plate tectonics, etc.
I'm not saying we shouldn't be skeptical that these technologies might make us lazy or inable to perform critical functions of technical work. I think there is a great danger that these technologies essentially fulfill the promise of data science across industries, that is, a completely individualized experience to guide your choices across digital environments. That is not the world that I want to live in. But, I also don't think that my mind is turning to mush because I asked Claude Code to write some code to make a catboost model that would have taken me a few hours to try out some idea.
Time goes forward, in the future when will you be in a situation you can't access a LLM? Better use LLM as much as possible to learn the skills of controlling agents, scaffolding constrains, docs, breaking problems in such a way that AI can solve them. These are the skills that matter now.
We don't practice much using the assembler either, or the slide ruler. I also lost the skill to start an old Renault 12 which I owned 30 years ago, it is a complex process believe me, there were some owners reaching artist level at it.
>in the future when will you be in a situation you can't access a LLM?
In an interview setting, while in a meeting, if you're idling on a problem while traveling or doing other work, while you are in an area with weak reception, if your phone is dead?
There are plenty of situations where my problem solving does not involve being directly at my work station. I figured out a solution to a recent problem while at the doctor's office and after deciding to check the API docs more closely instead of bashing my head on the compiler.
>We don't practice much using the assembler either, or the slide ruler.
Treating your ability to research and critically think as yet another tool is exactly why I'm pessimistic about the discipline of the populace using AI. These aren't skills you use 9-5 then turn off as you head back home.
Apple will most likely inject LLM model into iphone directly. It wont be amazing but it will work for most things.
Sad truth is future will most likely invalidate all „knowledge” beside critical thinking.
> "when will you be in a situation you can't access a LLM...?"
When you're unemployed, homeless, or cash strapped for other reasons, as has happened to more than a few HNers in the current downturn, and can't make your LLM payments.
And that doesn't even account for the potential of inequality, where the well-off can afford premium LLM services but the poor or unemployed can only afford the lowest grades of LLM service.
Exactly. Why should I not learn new things and how they work? What is the point of living if not learning new things?