Modern LLMs can serve you for most tasks while running locally on your machine.
Something like GPT4ALL will do the trick on any platform of your choosing if you have at least 8gb of RAM (and for most people nowadays it’s true).
It has a simple, idiot-proof GUI and doesn’t collect data if you don’t allow it to. It’s also open source, and, being local, it does not need Internet connection once you downloaded a model you need (which normally takes a single-digit number of gigabytes).
and you don’t need a computer, and you don’t need to eat good food
It’s just that you lose so much productivity, comfort and so on
When such a tool is a difference between 30 mins and 5 hours of work, then you simply use it. You either move with the masses to compete, or you don’t, but you’ll pay the price anyways.
You have clearly never been in that situation then. It is obviously not like this for many people, but for students for example, it often means a lot more
While I don’t fully share the notion and tone of other commenter, I gotta say LLMs have absolutely tanked education and science, as noted by many and as I witnessed firsthand.
I’m a young scientist on my way to PhD, and I get to assist in a microbiology course for undergraduates.
The amount of AI slop coming from student assignments is astounding, and worse of all - they don’t see it themselves. When it comes to me checking their actual knowledge, it’s devastating.
And it’s not just undergrads - many scientific articles also now have signs of AI slop, which messes up with research to a concerning degree.
Personally, I tried using more specialized tools like Perplexity in Research mode to look for sources, but it royally messed up listing the sources - it took actual info from scientific articles, but then referenced entirely different articles that hold no relation to it.
So, in my experience LLMs can be useful to generate a simple text or help you tie known facts together. But as a learning tool…be careful, or rather just don’t use them for that. Classical education exists for a good reason, and it is that you learn to get factually correct and relevant information, analyze it and keep it in your head for future reference. It takes more time, but is ultimately much worth it.
Sure, many don’t care and I have also experienced this, but it’s a fabulous way to quickly get a glimpse at a subject, or to get started, or to learn more. It’s not always correct, but for known subjects it’s pretty good
Anything related to law or really specific subjects will be horrible though
Classical education exists for a good reason
Sure, but not everyone teaches well enough, and LLMs are one of the ways to balance this, kinda
And if you don’t understand then… yea it’s still useful as a way to avoid failing a year which is morally questionable but hey, another topic
Alright, we generally seem to be on the same page :)
(Except numerous great books and helpful short materials exist for virtually any popular major, and, while they take longer to study, they provide order of magnitude better knowledge)
Modern LLMs can serve you for most tasks while running locally on your machine.
Something like GPT4ALL will do the trick on any platform of your choosing if you have at least 8gb of RAM (and for most people nowadays it’s true).
It has a simple, idiot-proof GUI and doesn’t collect data if you don’t allow it to. It’s also open source, and, being local, it does not need Internet connection once you downloaded a model you need (which normally takes a single-digit number of gigabytes).
If you want actual good features like deep research or chain of thought, eh, not sure it’s a good choice
The models will also not be very powerful
And you don’t need any of that. You don’t even need a local LLM.
So if you decide you want it, then that’s on you, and you have made the choice to give up your data.
and you don’t need a computer, and you don’t need to eat good food
It’s just that you lose so much productivity, comfort and so on
When such a tool is a difference between 30 mins and 5 hours of work, then you simply use it. You either move with the masses to compete, or you don’t, but you’ll pay the price anyways.
If you think LLMs are as fundamental as having a computer or internet access, then I really just don’t know what to say.
You have clearly never been in that situation then. It is obviously not like this for many people, but for students for example, it often means a lot more
While I don’t fully share the notion and tone of other commenter, I gotta say LLMs have absolutely tanked education and science, as noted by many and as I witnessed firsthand.
I’m a young scientist on my way to PhD, and I get to assist in a microbiology course for undergraduates.
The amount of AI slop coming from student assignments is astounding, and worse of all - they don’t see it themselves. When it comes to me checking their actual knowledge, it’s devastating.
And it’s not just undergrads - many scientific articles also now have signs of AI slop, which messes up with research to a concerning degree.
Personally, I tried using more specialized tools like Perplexity in Research mode to look for sources, but it royally messed up listing the sources - it took actual info from scientific articles, but then referenced entirely different articles that hold no relation to it.
So, in my experience LLMs can be useful to generate a simple text or help you tie known facts together. But as a learning tool…be careful, or rather just don’t use them for that. Classical education exists for a good reason, and it is that you learn to get factually correct and relevant information, analyze it and keep it in your head for future reference. It takes more time, but is ultimately much worth it.
Sure, many don’t care and I have also experienced this, but it’s a fabulous way to quickly get a glimpse at a subject, or to get started, or to learn more. It’s not always correct, but for known subjects it’s pretty good
Anything related to law or really specific subjects will be horrible though
Sure, but not everyone teaches well enough, and LLMs are one of the ways to balance this, kinda
And if you don’t understand then… yea it’s still useful as a way to avoid failing a year which is morally questionable but hey, another topic
Alright, we generally seem to be on the same page :)
(Except numerous great books and helpful short materials exist for virtually any popular major, and, while they take longer to study, they provide order of magnitude better knowledge)
Yeah, this thing that’s notorious for hallucinating and has only recently become even somewhat reliable is essential.
How did all those students from 2021 even survive??
Jesus, we’re absolutely fucked.
Surviving is different than living in good conditions
As with every tool, it has downsides. Learn to use it or continue to whine
That is… literally my point.
You’re comparing very disparate things. And I already pointed out the downside. No one here is whining about anything.