The LLM space is so weird. On the one hand they are spectacularly amazing tools I use daily to help write code, proofread various documents, understand my home assistant configuration, and occasionally reflect on parenting advice. On the other hand, they are the product of massive tech oligarchs, require $$$$ hardware, dumber than a box of rocks at times, and all the stuff you said. Oh yeah, and it definitely has a whiff of crypto grift all over it, but yet unlike crypto it actually is useful and produces things of value.
Like, where is this tech headed? Is it always going to be something that can only be run economically off shared hardware in a data center or is the day I can run a “near frontier model” on consumer grade hardware just around the corner? Is it always going to be trained and refined by massive centralized powers or will we someday soon be able to join a peer 2 peer training clan ran by denizens of 4chan?
This stuff is so overhyped and yet so under hyped at the same time. I can’t really wrap my head around it.
> the day I can run a “near frontier model” on consumer grade hardware just around the corner?
I suspect it is, in fact. But you can also see why a bunch of very very large, overinvested companies would have incentives to try to make sure it isn't. So it's going to be interesting.
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