this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
166 points (85.8% liked)

Asklemmy

43970 readers
648 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Feel like we've got a lot of tech savvy people here seems like a good place to ask. Basically as a dumb guy that reads the news it seems like everyone that lost their mind (and savings) on crypto just pivoted to AI. In addition to that you've got all these people invested in AI companies running around with flashlights under their chins like "bro this is so scary how good we made this thing". Seems like bullshit.

I've seen people generating bits of programming with it which seems useful but idk man. Coming from CNC I don't think I'd just send it with some chatgpt code. Is it all hype? Is there something actually useful under there?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 97 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't think the comparison with crypto is fair.

People are actually using these models in their daily lives.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm one of those that use it in my daily life.

The current top comment says it's "really good at filling in gaps, or rearranging things, or aggregating data or finding patterns."

So, I use Perplexity.ai like you would use Google. Except I don't have to deal with shitty ads and a bunch of filler content. It summarizes links for me, so I can more quickly understand whatever I'm searching for. However, I personally believe it's important to look directly at the sources once I get the summary, if only to verify the summary. So, in this instance, I find AI makes understanding a topic easier and faster than alternatives.

As a graduate student, I use ChatGPT extensively, but ethically. I'm not writing essays with it. I am, however, downloading lecture notes as PDFs and having ChatGPT rearrange that information into outline. Or I copy whole chapters from a book and have it do the same. Suddenly, my reading time is cut down by like 45 minutes because it takes me 15 minutes to get output that I just copy and paste into my notes, which I take digitally.

Honestly, using it like I do, it's pretty clear that AI is both as scary as it sounds in some instances and not, in others. The concern with disinformation during the 2024 election is a real concern. I could generate essays with it with whatever conclusions I wanted. In contrast, the concern that AI is scary smart and will take over the world is nonsense. It's not smart in any meaningful sense and doesn't have goals. Smart bombs are just dumb bombs with the ability to hone in better on the target, it's still has the mission of blowing shit up given to it by some person and inherent in its design. AI is the same way.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Perplexity.ai

Huh, this one looks pretty cool. Is it good enough to use as a default search engine, or would it still be better to leave google for it?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

It's useful for when you want to go down a rabbit hole. It's less useful for super specific stuff, like where to go if you want your nails done.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm currently working on my bachelor thesis and checked perplexity.ai out after I saw your comment. This is incredibly useful, thanks for sharing!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you for perplexity.ai, didn't know about this one

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People have actually used crypto to make payments. Crypto is valuable, but only when it's widely adopted. Before you say something like "use a database," you might take the time to understand what decentralized blockchains are accomplishing and namely removing a class of corruption from any information coordination tasks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why bother with the overhead of blockchain when users centralise on a handful of ~~banks~~ exchanges.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exchanges only exist to convert away from the crypto. If that's the standard money, they don't live. They aren't the banks of the blockchain. They are the intersection of fiat banks and the blockchain.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Strongly disagree, some exchanges don’t even have fiat on-ramps.

Blockchain is inefficient and pointless when users centralise on coinbase and binance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love revisiting comments like these every 4 years.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And yet, people still don't use crypto in their daily lives. How many years has it been?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Reddit just tied karma to the blockchain lol

Not saying it's a good use, but lots of people are going to be using it now.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have we forgot already about the entire country of El Salvador?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You mean, the one where people immediately exchanged their free crypto for USD as soon as they got it?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

Do you know of another El Salvador?