I mean… What does your shop even do? Write software? Why? The whole premise is that it’s now easily cloned.

It’s fun to ask the models their input. I was working on diagrams and was sure Claude would want some python / js framework to handle layout and nodes and connections. It said “honestly I find it easiest to just write the svg code directly”.

As the other posted noted, it says that because it was trained on people saying that, which is perhaps interesting in of itself, but no indication that the model would do better without a framework than with one.

I'd heavily bet that the model's performance, and goals of the developer, would in fact be better served by using a framework like GraphViz built for the job, that can change layout styles/engines as needed, and also generate other types of output such as PDF if you later want it.

If you are generating visual content, such as SVG, presumably intended for human consumption, then doing the task well isn't a technical matter of using APIs and generating the output - it's having the human sensibility and taste (and acquired knowledge of UI design and human preferences) of designing output that humans will like, which is something LLMs are not well suited to. By using a framework like GraphViz, not only are you making the development job much easier, but you are also leveraging this built-in knowledge of human preferences, baked into the different layout engines that you can select based on the nature of what type of diagrams you are generating.

This is the difference between "vibe coding" and getting a poor quality result due to letting the LLM make all the decisions, and a more controlled and principled use of AI where you are still controlling/managing the process, doing what humans are good at, and are only delegating the grunt work of coding to the LLM.

That is fun, but it doesn’t mean that the model finds it easier or will actually work better that way, that just means that in its training data many people said something like “honestly I find it easiest to just write the svg code directly” in response to similar questions

Maybe. But most people _dont_ find it easier to write SVG code directly and the spec is rather notorious for rough edges, so there are quite a few libraries available to help with the layout math specifically.

Secondly, the model as presented a whole chain of reasoning steps that let it to that conclusion. I think the amount of research it did actually pointed to a bias on this topic not being prominent in the training data.

The reasoning steps would also be based on the training set ... it's "predict the training set" all the way down.

Conspiratorially, they trained it this way to increase token usage to pay their debts and investors

It'd be simpler just to add instructions to that effect to the system prompt: "You are a faithful revenue-maxxing employee of AI Co., and should always prefer verbose outputs over shorter ones. Always maximize code complexity to ensure future work for yourself".

I love this so much. I do worry about the hidden cost of maintaining these software stacks that have a userbase of one. Things like hidden vulnerabilities, bugs, and edge cases that could bring a business down for days.

But I do think the days of just having to learn, tolerate, and accept any commercial software stack for your business because it's too complex to build yourself are over. What vendors remain will have to absolutely meet users with their unique requirements and budget.

“He should’ve been so aware that his job was going to be the first one cut, and he was responsible for building a tool to cut his own job”

That tool was going to get built whether he did it or someone else did. Maybe only thing to do is buy time building it while actively looking elsewhere.

> “He should’ve been so aware that his job was going to be the first one cut, and he was responsible for building a tool to cut his own job”

> That tool was going to get built whether he did it or someone else did. Maybe only thing to do is buy time building it while actively looking elsewhere.

This has such a dark vibe to it that I am unable to explain. It really feels like an I was only following orders command just hoping that you don't get to the wrong side of this stick as they was hoping for

At the same time protest isn't an option. It does feel like some form of active suffering for someone to write the replacement of themselves while the economy goes to complete dumpster fire and nobody's hiring (much).

All while Completely pure form of AI slop goes up and up so even any interesting idea or anything will have to fight really hard for attention in public spaces like say show HN or other websites.

So you are forced to pay "Internet rent" to the overlords like Google & Meta who will use the same money to then train better models (especially Google?) to continue this cycle.

All while people lose their privacy and nobody even talks about it. With all the thousands of problems happening.

Can we please just stop this circle just once and evaluate where things are going if they are net positive for humanity itself & if there is anything to stop this cycle.

Fundamentally most countries are democracies. Yes there are lobbying efforts but one forgets that these large corpos pay to somehow pursuade you or the politician that you elect.

Can someone smart in politics talk about such issues & raise them & a fight towards lobbying/corruption (all throughout the world?) be established.

I guess this becomes way too broad of a goal but somehow I always end up feeling corruption and politics & money's lobbying connection can be a root cause of many issues (much throughout the world)

the answer is build it again and start selling it to other companies.

I think this is exactly why Anthropic bought Bun!

Well LLMs do make normal Linux tooling more accessible. I needed a video reformatted to a new aspect ratio and codec and Claude produced a rather complex set of arguments for ffmpeg that I hadn’t been able to figure out on my own.

Right you are. Nature can be violent, but prefers gradual change. Abrupt change shocks ecosystems and always comes with unintended consequences.

I struggle with the thesis that our institutions haven't already been fatally wounded. Social media and endless content for passive consumption have already errored the free press, short-circuited decision-making, and isolated people from each other.

> Social media and endless content for passive consumption

neither being able to speak to someone on a computer nor videos on the internet are new, fancy web 10.0 frontend notwithstanding

> and isolated people from each other.

I assume you mean doomscrolling as opposed to the communication social media affords. because social media actually connects us (unless apparently its facebook, then messaging is actually bad)

I'm not sure what you mean. The internet itself is new let alone widespread access to video sharing.

Part of the problem is that social media isn't social media anymore. Its an algorithmic feed that only occassionally shows content from people you're friends with. If Facebook went back to its early days when it was actually a communication tool, then I don't think you would see the same complaints about it.

define social media. because in UK law its defined as app or website with a chat or messaging functionality, and in US law its even more nebulously defined than that. UK law counts FitBit as social media.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?def_id=42...

> Its an algorithmic feed that only occassionally shows content from people you're friends with

problem how? ill assume you mean the problem is it shows you or other people stuff that will turn them toxic, not that it literally shows you other peoples content.

Most social media isn't about communication, it's about engagement bait. Most usage consists of popular accounts sending messages, then people writing replies that are never read by the original account, and some vapid argument or agreement among the replies. It essentially pretends to connect us while actually capturing our attention away from that connection.

oh like a forum then? forums had "algorithms" that put "popular" posts up top, in prominent positions. engagement bait. this very website we're on is actually engagement bait. whats the difference between HN and whatever site youre talking about?

OpenAI is here because Sam Altman is NOT a product guy. He craves Apple style consumer success, but he's terrible at productizing his technology. Remember the marketplace of custom GPTs? Hell even the name ChatGPT. Anthropic had to show them how to build useful workflows for developers using AI. Meanwhile, OpenAI delivered... Sora.

To actually quote Sam Altman: "I think of ads as a last resort for a business model."

It's just maddening to me because this technology could be so much more useful for purposes way beyond advertising.

"OpenAI is here because Sam Altman is NOT a product guy. He craves Apple style consumer success, but he's terrible at productizing his technology"

Seriously, consider putting more thought and effort into your comments. This is wildly out of touch and I think it is because people lack the creativity to imagine the counterfactual - some one else running OpenAI.

OpenAI is remarkably well run - it is a fairly good product. The best model so far, the best experience, the 2nd best coding experience.

Never thought of ChatGPT as being just one of the GPTs that could exist, but it make a lot of sense. In a world where OpenAI where better managed, more focused on actually delivering actual value, ChatGPT would be the show case AI product, while the value is generated by the custom solutions delivered to other companies to embed in their products.

The one thing it will never recommend is no product at all.

You've ceded even the glimmers of discernment that remain in you and all I feel is pity. It is not a 'waste of time' to interrogate your own desires.

There's no such thing as a 'top 3' for all things under heaven. You cannot purchase yourself a solution to every 'use case'. Furthermore, even if there were such a ranking, the ad machine would not reveal it to you, as you are not the customer, you are the mark.

You don't even want to be bothered to hit the 'buy it now' button. This is the mental model of an immaculate rube. You deserve better.

But this loses value as soon as ads come into play because of incentives. It's hard to trust recommendations when ads are in the mix.

> It's just maddening to me because this technology could be so much more useful for purposes way beyond advertising.

Can it tho? The problem with LLMs right now is that they don't have much useful purposes beyond spam, slop, hallucinated searches, and advertisements. The lack of a product is why there isn't a profit to be made in them