Yes, LLMs make mistakes, but even small, self-hosted ones are pretty efficient today if you prompt them well. They’re not mind reading software so you need to be able to describe the task and HOW you want it done, not just barf in some basic instructions like “write me a copy of Facebook but better”.
It sounds like you’re saying people still need to be smart enough to use them properly… Which will be a problem as people rely on them more and more, and in turn become more stupid.
I think most people are so disorganized in their thinking, they can’t “prompt” well. There’s a lot of unclarified assumptions and leaps in how many people communicate
And funnily enough, AI is great at helping streamline that process too. People just need to ASK for help (even if they’re asking the AI model) instead of being set in one way of thinking and expecting miracles.
Recent example: I asked AI to help me come up with a search/replace string for editing a file in vim. My prompt was something like “I am editing a text file in vim and I need to replace <description of pattern> with <description of pattern>. How can I do this with :s/ ?” And it spat out something that didn’t work. It was not valid syntax (for vim, I think it was valid standard regex, or close to it), and it didn’t quite follow the pattern I was trying to describe (although ofc that could be my fault to some extent). But it was useful in that it pointed me in the right direction to come up with a correct formula with some follow up googling and experimentation.
That has been very typical of my experiences with AI. Useful sometimes, but absolutely not “does everything to the point you don’t have to think about it” that seems to be a common opinion.
For context I’m using ~20GB local models, so not Claude, which people who pay for LLMs swear by.
Yeah its definitely useful for topics you personally don’t have much experience in. It’s much less useful when trying to use it for topics you personally are an expert in.
Yes, older models will make those mistakes. The solution is to provide appropriate agent/skill definitions so it doesn’t just spit something out, but rather comes up with the solution, then smoke tests it in a separate scratch environment.
Claude uses this approach for reinforced learning, and it works well. Takes a few more rounds to resolve, but the solution is generally flawless (for that specific purpose).
Yes it does. Just need to go beyond prompt. Add reinforcement loops, make it test the solution in a separate environ it can’t screw up in, and have it not just INVENT things (“give me X”), but research the topic and base its solution on the rules created by the research.
This is what basically the Claude harness (not the local but the remote harness you can’t see) adds to the LLM what makes it so powerful and useful. Replicate those processes and even a small 4B mode will be incredibly capable.
Your experience is pretty unique then.
Yes, LLMs make mistakes, but even small, self-hosted ones are pretty efficient today if you prompt them well. They’re not mind reading software so you need to be able to describe the task and HOW you want it done, not just barf in some basic instructions like “write me a copy of Facebook but better”.
It sounds like you’re saying people still need to be smart enough to use them properly… Which will be a problem as people rely on them more and more, and in turn become more stupid.
Like back when we had to teach people how to google shit. Tedious.
I think most people are so disorganized in their thinking, they can’t “prompt” well. There’s a lot of unclarified assumptions and leaps in how many people communicate
And funnily enough, AI is great at helping streamline that process too. People just need to ASK for help (even if they’re asking the AI model) instead of being set in one way of thinking and expecting miracles.
Eh idk I still have it make mistakes constantly.
Recent example: I asked AI to help me come up with a search/replace string for editing a file in vim. My prompt was something like “I am editing a text file in vim and I need to replace <description of pattern> with <description of pattern>. How can I do this with :s/ ?” And it spat out something that didn’t work. It was not valid syntax (for vim, I think it was valid standard regex, or close to it), and it didn’t quite follow the pattern I was trying to describe (although ofc that could be my fault to some extent). But it was useful in that it pointed me in the right direction to come up with a correct formula with some follow up googling and experimentation.
That has been very typical of my experiences with AI. Useful sometimes, but absolutely not “does everything to the point you don’t have to think about it” that seems to be a common opinion.
For context I’m using ~20GB local models, so not Claude, which people who pay for LLMs swear by.
I recently used it to customize a vimeopro library and I had to go through some back and forth with it but we did get there in under an hour.
I have very little coding experience, I’m a graphic designer.
I would’ve required the help of someone who’s salary would’ve been six figures to solve this problem without the Claude.
So what it’s done is make computer code much cheaper than it previously was.
Yeah its definitely useful for topics you personally don’t have much experience in. It’s much less useful when trying to use it for topics you personally are an expert in.
I use Claude + local models.
Yes, older models will make those mistakes. The solution is to provide appropriate agent/skill definitions so it doesn’t just spit something out, but rather comes up with the solution, then smoke tests it in a separate scratch environment.
Claude uses this approach for reinforced learning, and it works well. Takes a few more rounds to resolve, but the solution is generally flawless (for that specific purpose).
No amount of prompt “engineering” will help when they outright make shit up.
Yes it does. Just need to go beyond prompt. Add reinforcement loops, make it test the solution in a separate environ it can’t screw up in, and have it not just INVENT things (“give me X”), but research the topic and base its solution on the rules created by the research.
This is what basically the Claude harness (not the local but the remote harness you can’t see) adds to the LLM what makes it so powerful and useful. Replicate those processes and even a small 4B mode will be incredibly capable.