in reply to AI in the workplace

I recently asked Meta AI about computer programming related topics, and I was surprised by the sheer confidence it expressed with giving several wrong answers. Then when I confronted it, it kind of said yes, that is indeed true. And finished off with something like "I'm glad we figured this out" as if we mutually helped each other to come to the right answer when in fact, I knew the right answer and IT didn't. But anyway, AI does have good ideas occasionally, and it can tell you things you didn't know before. But always be more knowledgeable than AI, because the moment you wade into territory that you know nothing about, it can lead you astray. AI is like children in a foreign school. You ask them how do you say "I like you" and the kids will say "you're a pig" in their foreign language. And if you don't double check the answer, you'll be misled and fooled. The only difference is that the kids will be giggling, while AI spews nonsense with 100% confidence and conviction. lol

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Re^2: AI in the workplace
by marto (Cardinal) on Jul 27, 2025 at 02:23 UTC

    "...while AI spews nonsense with 100% confidence and conviction."

    Which to be fair is incredibly common in humans.

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      Well, if you know nothing about a subject, you can't talk about it. AI knows a little bit about everything. For example, I know nothing about how airplane engines work, so I won't talk about it. Fuel goes in, burns and spins propeller, pushes air out. End of story. That's all I know. And I'm not going to embellish the story, purposely misleading someone, adding myriad of details that I have no idea about. Yes, people can do that. And if I were to do that, that would be considered either evil or mischief. But as far as AI is concerned, I don't think it is purposely designed to be mischievous or misleading. This is probably a glitch or error in the software, not purposeful design. And AI has no conscience either, so it feels no remorse or guilt. It may say things like "sorry" or "you are right," but even if it does that, it's just a piece of man-made software, and at this point, it is still a poor imitation of real human intelligence.
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        Well, if you know nothing about a subject, you can't talk about it.

        and yet:

        This is probably a glitch or error in the software,

        Nope, it's the way it was nurtured. Nurture, not nature.

        Optimising for fewest key strokes only makes sense transmitting to Pluto or beyond
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        In my experience you yourself more often than not don't apologise or admit wrongdoing when someone corrects you. In fact you often double down, whereas you've experienced AI doing the opposite. You campaigned to have ChatGPT integrated here, (Incorporating ChatGPT into PerlMonks), currently the second worst node of the year.

[reply]
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        And AI has no conscience either, so it feels no remorse or guilt.

        The same applies to a psychopath, so I guess that a psychopath is the human form of A.I.?

        Naked blocks are fun! -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
[reply]
Re^2: AI in the workplace
by LanX (Saint) on Jul 27, 2025 at 23:50 UTC
    LLMs are basically search engines with a chat interface. Instead of links we get an averaged answer of often questionable input.

    This is not a logical intelligence and peoples expectations are totally overblown, because they judge the book by the cover.

    In the past people had to learn the hard way that Google and Wikipedia often produced questionable output, they'll have to learn it again.

    But this doesn't mean we stopped using Google and WP, they found their niche in our workflows.

    And AI in general (not LLMs) might still find a robust niche in software development, but new tools require new "workflows".

    Anyway a little personal advice: one thing you could learn from the polished way LLMs talk is not to end every post with an irritating "LOL".

    I bet your acceptance rate here would increase dramatically. :)

    Cheers Rolf
    (addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
    see Wikisyntax for the Monastery

[reply]

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