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There's no such thing as Just a Tool (deadsimpletech.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/programming@programming.dev
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[–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

Saying you can do both good and bad with any tool is misleading if the tool makes it easier to do the bad thing

This arguement simply does not hold up. Tools can, and often are, used for things they were not intended for. An effective hammer is going to be made of metal and have a decent heft to it. Having a hammer would also make it much easier to bash in someone's head, (making it easier to do a bad thing).

A gun is designed to kill people, making people more likely to murder. The only people that have a realistic argent for needing guns are going to be police and military, and of course hunters with rifles.

The biggest problem with AI is how wide of a scope the tool applies to. Most tools have a much more narrow use case. AI is designed to be extremely versatile. You could use it to get customized lesson plans yo help structure your learning. Or you could skip the learning and have it give you the answer. It is a tool either way

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    I meant easier to do the bad thing than to do the good thing. A hammer does not specifically make it easier to attack someone than to use it for carpentry. And hammers are rarely used to attack other people in practice.

    I don't understand why you bring guns into this argument. Like LLMs, they should indeed be banned, except for some very narrow use cases. Most developed countries do ban guns in that way.

    For most people, LLMs do make it specifically easier to skip learning than to enhance learning. We can see this in practice where teachers are noticing higher grades for homework but lower grades for the final exams.

    To take it to the extreme: you could say buying a lottery ticket can be both a bad and a good financial decision because it costs money, but it can also earn you a lot of money. That statement is technically true, but I hope you agree it is misleading.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago

    I don’t understand why you bring guns into this argument

    Because it is a tool with a use that is used for bad things, like people are arguing with AI

    For most people, LLMs do make it specifically easier to skip learning than to enhance learning. We can see this in practice where teachers are noticing higher grades for homework but lower grades for the final exams.

    This is going to be especially true for children. Virtually unrestricted AI should not be accessible to kids. If they have access to AI, it should be one that acts as a teacher or private tutor that will help them learn but not give them the answer. Until we can control AI like that, they shouldn't have access to it.

    But we do not have an easy measurement for adults. We have anecdotal experience and vibes. It's also entirely up to the person how effective the use of the tool is.

    you could say buying a lottery ticket can be both a bad and a good financial decision

    This would only be a good comparison if your actions had any impact on your chances of winning. It isn't random chance how AI is used.

    I think a better comparison would be drug usage. Prescription drug usage used properly can turn someone's life around, objectively improving their life. Obviously abuse of drugs has ruined many lives, and ended many others. We are not saying we should get rid of drugs though.

    Drugs are heavily controlled by professionals because of their ability to be abused. It used to be that coke was in soda's and you could buy opioids over the counter. We learned about their addictive properties and dangers, and they were regulaged.

    Perhaps we will some day have a method to control AIs abuse/addiction. It would no doubt look entirely different from controlled substances. Maybe there is a way to have personal accounts only help people learn, and rather that giving them answers it might guide them to learning for themselves. Who knows what this technology might look like in the future

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