I think the core functionality of human cooperation boils down to getting ideas from one mind to another or many. In that, I think AI is a boon for people with limiting abilities such as learning disabilities, low language fluency, or generally poor writing skills. It evens the playing field for new and interesting ideas to spread. I can't help feeling, sometimes, this is about people who excelled at something demanding they still have their place at the top. High literacy such that you can discern LLM Voice is quite an accomplishment but blanket dismissal reeks of privilege.
That being said. Yes, I hate some LLM Voice moments too and still sometimes judge people for copy and pasting, expecting others to do the comprehension when it seems they haven't done it themselves.
Duality of man.
I highly disagree, though I admit I am one of those towards the top of literacy and cognitive skills. I absolutely enjoy when someone uses LLMs to learn. However, I don't think that's what we'll be seeing.
Look at programming. What's happening there is we are having agents produce 10-100x the code to where people give up on reading it and just hit OK. Look at math. Plenty of people there want to learn from the LLMs and all these crazy new math proofs. But those are the people who will probably be out of a job soon because the money in math is in producing proofs, and that's now an LLM-exclusive job.
I think LLMs are weird in that the first order effects are those of an incredible and amazing tool that anyone can learn things from, but the second order effects are going to be the exact opposite - people giving up on bothering with ideas. Even at my job, which is one of the few that has not gone crazy with AI, anytime I ask anyone a question, all I hear is "have you asked Claude?". There's no communication anymore, no pushback, no struggle. I worry that one day we'll look around and realize we've built an entirely separate second civilization of machines and robots that acts more like a neighboring country than a tool we can use to build humanity up.
-Just my rambling thoughts, not refined by an AI.
> uses LLMs to learn
I worry that--while they can be a strong fuzzy search tool-- their teaching ability falters because teaching involves possessing a theory-of-mind for the student and trying to figure out what will change how they think. A good teacher doesn't just present you with relevant facts, they try to figure out how you're reaching conclusions.
Note that I'm excluding propoganda-style "teaching" here, where a model just insists you're wrong and that all the cool kids are doing it etc.
How's life up there towards the top of literacy and cognitive skills?
In a contest between the "supercharge my education and skill development" use and "let me be as lazy as possible" use of AI, it should be pretty obvious which will win out at the end of the day.
It is not any different from knowing the difference between good writing and bad. I can't help it that I have taste and preferences. I can avoid telling you yours are wrong. But I don't think this is a minority position and nor is it different from people who reflexively hate AI "art" or music
(I have to admit, I truly do like some of the music, so feel free to scorn me. If you want to be infested with a vicious ear-worm check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zONGVaONKe8&list=RDzONGVaONK...).
Nothing wrong with having preferences, dismissing people outright based on them is problematic if you're rejecting the ideas because of the medium and method shared.
This has nothing to do with medium or method. It has to do with written words that aren't worth reading, and there is nothing wrong with expressing your opinion when you come across that. If something is really well-written, no one is going to dismiss it for being generated because it won't be possible to notice that it was generated.
A writer who can't recognize LLM voice isn't a good writer, just like a writer who doesn't do research or fact checking isn't good. It has nothing to do with method, its about skill and work effort.