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<p>GPT is dead, long live LLMs!</p>
<p>The following is a pretty good (IMO) reflection on what GPT is
bad (and good) for.<br>
</p>
<p><a
href="https://medium.com/@jordan_gibbs/how-to-not-use-chatgpt-8088ec559681"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://medium.com/@jordan_gibbs/how-to-not-use-chatgpt-8088ec559681</a></p>
<p>I've been messing with GPT3/4 and Bard for most of a year now and
the honeymoon is definitely over, not that it ever started. </p>
<p>I like to refer to them as "bar friends" because my expectations
of them fall just about where my expectations of a new bar friend
might be. I don't expect them to be interesting much less
informative or useful on any given topic, but am pleasantly
surprised if/when/as they turn out to be any of the above. </p>
<p>I rarely take the advice of a "bar friend" at face value, but do
find that they can often bring new perspectives from either their
unique personality or their unique experiences. This is not to
say I don't "trust" my bar-friends, just that I trust them to be
who they are, even though I likely don't *know* who they are.</p>
<p>I feel I've come to know GPT and Bard well enough to agree with
Gibbs (above) about it's limitations and biases... </p>
<p>My main use of them seems to have degenerated to A)
fancier/easier interface to web-search; B) Brainstorming on new
ideas; C) Burning off my excess-ideation energy. </p>
<p>I have also used it effectively to *re* start programming
projects which I've abandoned, bringing me back up to speed on
syntax more efficiently than 1) RTFM; 2) cut-and-try with
compile/execute tools.<br>
</p>
<p>Caveats: <br>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A) I have never been (known to me) fooled by their propensity
to "make shit up"... either I am skeptical enough or already
have enough knowledge that they haven't slipped anything past
me, though they have 'tried". Or maybe they are slicker than I
know?<br>
</p>
<p>B) Given that I am pretty loosey-goosey in my own flights of
fancy when it comes to Brainstorming, I don't feel they have
ever lead *me* astray. If *they* could be lead astray, it would
be more likely that direction.</p>
<p>C) Mary (and FriAM and several other friends) don't have to
endure *as much* of my "flying off in all directions at once" <br>
</p>
<p>Coding: Once I've got my sea (C?
Java/Python/JavaScript/PS/???) legs back under me, GPT is only
minimally useful (usually to outline an algorithm I'm familiar
with but have forgotten or am too-lazy-to-reconstruct details
of) and generally distracting, creating tangents and dead-ends
that I don't need.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Of course GPT-5 and/or SteroidBard will roll out some day and
I'll either be re-enamored or so jaded as to not-bother... who
knows? <br>
</p>
<p>I'm curious what others here experience with these tools. SG is
the only one I know to be as (or more) engaged than I am, but I
suspect a few here have done some time with these tools from each
of your unique perspectives?<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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