[judofyr]

I think this is a bit unfair. The carpenters are (1) living in world where there’s an extreme focus on delivering as quicklyas possible, (2) being presented with a tool which is promised by prominent figures to be amazing, and (3) the tool is given at a low cost due to being subsidized.

And yet, we’re not supposed to criticize the tool or its makers? Clearly there’s more problems in this world than «lazy carpenters»?

[SauntSolaire]

Yes, that's what it means to be a professional, you take responsibility for the quality of your work.

[bossyTeacher]

Well, then what does this say of LLM engineers at literally any AI company in existence if they are delivering AI that is unreliable then? Surely, they must take responsibility for the quality of their work and not blame it on something else.

[peppersghost93]

It's a shame the slop generators don't ever have to take responsibility for the trash they've produced.

[adestefan]

The entire thread is people missing this simple point.

[concinds]

I use those LLM "deep research" modes every now and then. They can be useful for some use cases. I'd never think to freaking paste it into a paper and submit it or publish it without checking; that boggles the mind.

The problem is that a researcher who does that is almost guaranteed to be careless about other things too. So the problem isn't just the LLM, or even the citations, but the ambient level of acceptable mediocrity.

[embedding-shape]

> And yet, we’re not supposed to criticize the tool or its makers?

Exactly, they're not forcing anyone to use these things, but sometimes others (their managers/bosses) forced them to. Yet it's their responsibility for choosing the right tool for the right problem, like any other professional.

If a carpenter shows up to put a roof yet their hammer or nail-gun can't actually put in nails, who'd you blame; the tool, the toolmaker or the carpenter?

[judofyr]

> If a carpenter shows up to put a roof yet their hammer or nail-gun can't actually put in nails, who'd you blame; the tool, the toolmaker or the carpenter?

I would be unhappy with the carpenter, yes. But if the toolmaker was constantly over-promising (lying?), lobbying with governments, pushing their tools into the hands of carpenters, never taking responsibility, then I would also criticize the toolmaker. It’s also a toolmaker’s responsibility to be honest about what the tool should be used for.

I think it’s a bit too simplistic to say «AI is not the problem» with the current state of the industry.