How are you using new AI technology? Maybe you're only deploying things like ChatGPT to summarize long texts or draft up mindless emails. But what are you losing by taking these shortcuts? And is this tech taking away our ability to think?
The tendency of code-generating large language models (LLMs) to produce completely fictitious package names in response to certain prompts is significantly more widespread than commonly recognized, a new study has shown.
The format of the answer came in the blurb under the link
Sure, and that works really well if I just need a quick fact check. I use DDG and use that feature a ton.
But that doesn’t work when more context is needed, like in a comparison. I find myself clicking through and skimming a dozen pages, and with an LLM I end up only needing 3-4 pages after reading its summary to confirm what it said.
AI Code Tools Widely Hallucinate Packages
Sure, which is why I always verify things like that. I ask it to compare popular libraries that accomplish a task, then look for evidence that my preferred option does what I want (issues on the project page) and is actively maintained (recent commits, multiple active contributors, etc). The LLM is just there to narrow the search space and give me things to look for.
To do that with regular search would take a bit longer since I’d need to compare each library to each other to find relevant blogs and whatnot. So even if search worked better, it would still take longer.
Sometimes it breaks down and I go back to my old method, but it’s usually worth a shot.
I use LLMs a lot less than my coworkers, but I do use them periodically when I think it’ll be useful. I’ve been a dev for a long time (10+ years), so I find I usually know where to look already. I discourage our junior devs from relying on it too much and encourage our senior devs to give it a shot.
Google could already do that. The format of the answer came in the blurb under the link, pertinent to the search.
AI Code Tools Widely Hallucinate Packages
Sure, and that works really well if I just need a quick fact check. I use DDG and use that feature a ton.
But that doesn’t work when more context is needed, like in a comparison. I find myself clicking through and skimming a dozen pages, and with an LLM I end up only needing 3-4 pages after reading its summary to confirm what it said.
Sure, which is why I always verify things like that. I ask it to compare popular libraries that accomplish a task, then look for evidence that my preferred option does what I want (issues on the project page) and is actively maintained (recent commits, multiple active contributors, etc). The LLM is just there to narrow the search space and give me things to look for.
To do that with regular search would take a bit longer since I’d need to compare each library to each other to find relevant blogs and whatnot. So even if search worked better, it would still take longer.
Sometimes it breaks down and I go back to my old method, but it’s usually worth a shot.
I use LLMs a lot less than my coworkers, but I do use them periodically when I think it’ll be useful. I’ve been a dev for a long time (10+ years), so I find I usually know where to look already. I discourage our junior devs from relying on it too much and encourage our senior devs to give it a shot.