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James's avatar

I enjoyed that article and after having a month to play with it, I have a a few things to reflect on. As far as LLM being a worthwhile technology, it has certainly extended my abilities and has collated information better and faster that I could, had I had the interest to pull together myself. For example, I took several scientific papers regarding aging, chronic diseases, and associated transcriptomes and proteomes. Then I cross-referenced to the associated disease state mechanism. Then I had it search for nutriceuticals and pharmaceutical which might help mitigate the effect. Finally, I had it create a .csv file which then i massaged a bit further. 4o did most of the work, though interestingly there was a point where it gave comparative output against o1 and asked which I preferred. The o1 output was more complete, but at an additional 80 seconds of processing, was cost worth the marginal improvement? Possibly, depending on the importance of the project. Is AI faster than me, more thorough than me? Yes, particularly when parsing information outside of my native senses. Can it help me do something that would be totally outside of my abilities? As an example and a proof of concept, I have tried to write a novel. I am not a great writer, especially not fiction. But AI created a totally engaging prose style which would be impossible for me. In creating a plot and fitting themes for the genre, AI gave me some ideas. I asked it about their originalities and it told me. I merely blended a few together. I did the same for setting, character, conflict, etc for elements of a fiction. My wife seemed pleased with the output, especially in voice mode. (Not that we are a critical audience.) But it was a fun and enlightening experiment. So no matter what the naysayers of AI think or how they want to move the goal posts, this really is a generational technology which can change industry. Do I think it can replace me in its current iteration? Probably not during my career. Then again, I think the scaling law may have been maximized; however, it seems the AI scientists have yet to run out of strategies to improve the technology.

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Clarice Assad's avatar

Thank you for this incredible article, Alberto. So, we will live among aliens that 'we' created ourselves. Or, rather, folks with nothing to do with its creation must accept what a small portion of humanity has created for everyone else. I love technology, but I have concerns about this technology existing in the hands of humans, who have been too proud, aggressive, and moved by greed. You wrote, "OpenAI and the others will continue developing the new paradigm because that's what has a chance of fulfilling the field's ultimate purpose." I wondered what this meant exactly. Thanks again for your expertise and sober remarks about the fascinating times (for better or worse) we are living in.

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