people that ask bots about stuff they could inform themselves about in 15 minutes of online search/reading should come with with a warning sticker on their foreheads
I will say, as a programmer it's really good for asking really specific questions for how certain parts of how (especially old) languages work and getting really quick answers that tell me exactly what I need to know.
It's great for studying when you want a quick summary of writings and theories on a topic you need to get into, but lately it feels more clear than ever thats its just an excellent parrot, it's just really, really well developed context trees sprouted from some deep axioms.
That's the most useful possible tool I could have in a lot of professional situations as a programmer, tbh.
It's a precise and consolidated version of what I would get through a half hour of pouring through kinda similar posts on Stack Overflow and language documentation in four seconds.
Yeah, I'm taking two programming courses currently (very noob), python and C++, and its often so much faster to get a quick run down of some function and its uses than trying to Google your way. And if it's wrong often- so are people. Basically a great search engine.
and how exactly can you guess the quality of its results on a given subject (assuming most of the times you're not a specialist on it and you'll not consult any other sources)
having a concise summary is still useful, as I often find it difficult to find results on search engines that are straight-to-the-point and free of fluff
too many people think gpts/llms have actual understanding of language and aren’t just predicting what string of words would be the most appropriate response to the prompt you gave it
the stuff it spits out can be funny to read, but it’s by no means “sentient” or 100% reliable
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But that isn't worth it.
It's a precise and consolidated version of what I would get through a half hour of pouring through kinda similar posts on Stack Overflow and language documentation in four seconds.
You still get wrong answers from googling it just takes a lot longer.
I hate AI and think that it's a bad thing but it's undeniably really good at certain things. That's just reality.
I mean usually a search is enough to double-check
the stuff it spits out can be funny to read, but it’s by no means “sentient” or 100% reliable