Listen. I know the internet has been a weird place as of late. From highly prominent social media apps being purchased, other social media apps acting as if they run the world…. and then whatever this is:
No shots at knitting, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around a social media app that is primerly focused just on ONE SPECIFIC THING, but I digress. Knitters are cool. People who knit are amazing. Do I think they like to sit online and chat? Maybe not so much. But hey, some of the earliest forms of social circles are groups of people, sitting in a room, chatting over a knitting pattern. I can’t laugh at it, I can’t judge it. I can only smile, and realize some places on the internet make people happy, and that’s ok.
Then you add in the fact that THE ROBOTS ARE HERE. HAL 9000 IS HERE, AND IT DOESN’T WANT TO OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS! AI IS RUNNING RAMPANT
Every day, since around November 22, 2023 (yea you know the date, you know who I’m talking about 😉 ) the internet seems abuzz with nothing but AI this, AI that. THEY ARE COMING FOR OUR JOBS, and its making the world (especially social media) seem worse and worse. How can anyone create or do anything, if every day just seems like a shitty Monday.
So why does everything seem to be so shitty? Why does EVERY social media app end up being a giant scrolling monster of doom, anger, hatred and 30 second hits of violence?
Could be a lot of things? Could be a mirrored reflection of how we all feel inside, or it could be some internal algorithm that realizes our worst behavior. I remember watching the movie “The immitation Game” and in it, Benedict Cumber patch said:
“Do you know why people life violence? Because it feels good.”
Now don’t get all gloom and doomy on me. I choose to believe that no matter who you are, everyone has a bit of good and a bit of bad in them, but their decisions are what make them who they are (not their mistakes or triumphs), something about that old saying of “We have a dangerous wolf and a loving wolf inside of each of us, and it depends on which one you feed”.
So whats my point? Whats this post about, why am I typing? WHO CARES WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!?
I’m a Software Engineer (the flavor dynamic kind, where my speciality or focus changes from job title to job title). I’ve spent countless hours training and reviewing outputed responses, thought-chains, function tools etc, associated with AI.
Also.. quick tidbit. I’m a stickler when it comes to defnitions sometimes, because I think they are important. so I want to say this very loudly:
LLMS ARE NOT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. THEY ARE ARTIFICAL PERCEPTION.
They are first angry toddlers repeating and mimicking. They are then Angry high-schoolers, all angsty and combative. Then the refine, and they start being more careful about what they say, and turn into college students. Can college students get weird? Yea. Put them in a hard position, and the can hallucinate too. Then we are hoping they’ll be graduates with degress, then PHD students and professors.
But don’t conflate the two. Artifical Intelligence incompases many different components, but at its core, its focused on replciating real human intelligence. It does not do that. LLM’s use fancy vectors with tokens, and they find meaning in relations between different vectors. They focus on outputting content or text based on the perception of the person asking questions. Thats not really even artifical, it can’t be intelligent. Is it a branch of AI? Most would say yes. It’s getting there. Its a stepping stone.
It’s biggest downfall? It’s really bad at creating or putting together new thoughts, without additional data. It constantly has to be updated, it constantly has to be fed. If we stoped the doing we do it wouldn’t be as good as it was before, when we were… doing the doing?
So don’t fret. Breathe. Understand that its a tool, and all tools all the same. If we don’t use them, or get better at using them, they can stay stagnate and get cobwebs.
but like… be a little scared? Understand that at some point, LLMS and other Generative AI tools will impact jobs. They will impact industries. If you don’t use them, you will lose ground, and they will replace you.
However, if you get used to using them, if you focus on their importance, it can make you better. That’s what technology is about. Giving you the ability to do better. Letting you remove the noise, and focus on the real thing.
So do it. Use it. Tippy type away. You’ll be better of in the long run, then if you pulled an ostrich and buried your head in the sand. To pull a Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Anyways, that was my little diatribe. My little glimps into how I think, and what I know. I’m hoping to use this space as a place for.. well, space? I firmly believe that if you put out good in the world, good comes back to you, in that wooey timey-wimey, hoo doo sort of what. So I figured I’d document my thoughts, share some of my knowledge. Point out some cool things I’ve learned or did. Sharing is caring, and sometimes, talking to the void can help. It can also help to read the void so I hope you come hang out for more.
Next post, I’d like to start with the history. The meat and potatoes. The evolution of Artificial Intelligence and Computer science as a whole. Sometimes, retrospect can be our friends, learning from history can help us understand.
So join me. Lets chat. Lets talk about it. I’ll scream into the empty page, and you can laugh or cry (my grammer is HORRENDOUS by the way) or even enjoy it. Cuz remember, some places on the internet make people happy, and that’s ok.
Signing off,
Haxk