alt Hacker NewsThere are real productivity gains by using these tools right now. Instead of doing 1x your normal work, you can do 5x while still maintaining quality. This is like an accountant sticking to pen and paper because calculators are big and clunky.
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> I feel the same way about the current crop of AI tools. I've tried a bunch of them. Some are good. Most are a bit shit. Few are useful to me as they are now. [...] If this tech is as amazing as you say it is, I'll be able to pick it up and become productive on a timescale of my choosing not yours.
I think the point the author is making is not that it's all useless, but against the very overly simplistic idea the plot of Amount of AI vs Productivity in All Situations is a hockey stick chart.
Being told to be excited about something when clearly all they're saying is "it works sometimes, other times not so much. I'll keep checking and when it's good enough for me I'll get on board" is aggravating.
To be honest, I would rather spend 5x effort while doing my normal work, because salary won't grow.
> Instead of doing 1x your normal work, you can do 5x while still maintaining quality.
That's a gross overestimate. 2x I would maybe believe.
Someone has to sign off your work and unless it's hard to write but easy to read, this is where the bottleneck currently lies.
> Instead of doing 1x your normal work, you can do 5x while still maintaining quality.
Yet my pay stays the same, all my coworkers get fired, and Sam Altman gets all of their paychecks. Hrm.
What if the calculator had randomness built into it?
In your analogy that calculator would only produce a correct answer 80% of the time, and plausible looking but incorrect ones the other 20%.
If that were the case I’d hire pen guy.