That ability to see the patterns in language, particularly the ability to distill semantic meaning and make (reasonable, if imperfect) translations from one language to a variety of others, is incredibly useful in software development activities, which are basically the task of translating natural language requests into code - usually through a multi-step process of: requirements definition, design specification, application development, test development, and constant review to ensure that all those steps are in-sync, describing the same thing.
It's just being used out of scope and big corporations are trying to replace their entire staff with just LLMs, which cannot write code, maintain code, and update it properly without a person being involved to audit it. The Luddite in me screams for some sanity in the space. The least offensive use is finding bugs, but humans need to fully investigate and verify if the LLM detected an anomaly or not, publishing a fix based on human written code alone from there. The LLM cannot be involved further at that point, as deskilling is an ever-present danger with those things. As the only way for these things to actually create code is to be trained on the works of humans (which is often stolen without permission by scrapers or harvested because fools willingly use LLMs for some strange reason). As LLMs cannot think, feel, or have a spark of creativity. These are just programs that detect patterns can be made to spit them out. But CEOs have been brainwashed into believing that LLMs can be considered an "AI" and the big corpos have done a good job of deceiving these overcompensated idiots with window dressing, snake oil, smoke&mirrors. I think the root of my problems lay here and why I am so hostile to them. Perhaps, if humans used them sanely, it wouldn't be so bad.
Always.
At least we can agree on that.
I'm tempted to make a "better buggy whip maker" crack here...
I think there were some strong efforts on the front of Python to make programming more accessible as they are one of the most detailed and documented langauges out there. While base C; hey expected people to create their own shit using the base principles of the C language to create their own custom modules and shit. Other modern derivatives of C have done a better job of making the language accessible to new learners, showing off the power of the language and what you can do when you learn the language that machines understand.
Yeah, so Anthropic didn't pay for legitimate textbooks when they went to school, they bought cheap, illegal, Asian photocopies instead... wrong, sure. How do you make it right now? Lobotomize the students who read illegally copied books? Fine their parents for everything they are worth? Or, hold the students liable and garnish their wages in perpetuity?
The consequences have already been decided for Anthropic which is a profit motivated corporation that knowingly did a bad thing that they shouldn't have done, if I remember right the fine was $1.5 billion dollars. That money would be distributed to the affected authors who filed the claim with the courts. People who share textbooks, buy cheap ones...These students aren't a profit driven entity, they are people who are being nickled and dimed for a costly education that is likely to make their living conditions a lot better. Sure, pirated materials aren't legal, but those materials being shared amongst groups of college students who are looking to get educated and elevate their minds, I feel this is a lesser evil. Plus, it would be absolutely eye-watering expensive to even begin to track and punish such a smaller offense among everyday citizens. It's honestly easier to hold a corporation accountable in this instance.
Yep...
Trump and Co are acting pretty nervous so I hope people show the fuck up and do what needs to be done, as it has to happen. Otherwise, I wonder about the future of America...