Ask HN: Are you getting GPT-Fatigue? Hello HN! Lately I have been seeing so many GPT-related posts on all internet platforms that I am starting to feel "gpt-fatigue". Most freelance job posts are from clients who want to gpt-this and gpt-that. My latest 2 consulting work has been about building products around generative AI and whenever I open Twitter, HN or Instagram Reels I keep seeing generative AI related content. Am I the only one feeling this way? |
It will get better. Then a new buzzword comes forward.
I'm waiting for new courses and ebook on how to become a gpt expert.
For myself on the other hand, I have been interfacing with ChatGPT (web / API) almost daily since release day, feeling like I am at the edge of things; not wanting to miss a single new thing; can't miss what others are working on and releasing ... and its becoming so exhausting, it almost feels like a second full time job. It's really hard to manage, because as much as I believe I need a break, its also the most exciting thing for me to happen as a developer in a while. Also ... I have been there for Bitcoin ... in 2011, through all the cycles, I made money, but resisted all the hype, but somehow this all feels different, I still wonder if I am just getting fooled because its different.
I predict that we're going to reach phase 5 some time soon ("the plateau of productivity"). And when the dust has settled, the damage to the entrenched-retrograde "IBMs" of our industry will be real. I know because I work for one of these "IBMs".
That’s today, imagine in 2 years or 5 years.
It sucks, but the internet as we know it is over.
- "Prompt engineering" based products are fickle, and depend on the underlying model not changing much. They also have almost no moat. I can go into ChatGPT, and probably get a few plugins to do your product.
- Do you really want to use American Expresses, or Bob's Laundromat, or Instacarts chatbot? Or would you rather just use their product search, when search is called for. Use the few reliable, point-and-click actions when obvious self-service customer support? And talk to a human being when support escalation is needed? (I have a hard time imagining a chatbot taking an action that you need 'root access' to an org's processes because I have a weird one-off support issue). Though maybe LLMs can make these existing interactions more seamless, I'm less sure people want to throw away what they know to jump into a chatbot
Here's where I think we are:
- Obviously, the biggest game changer is interrogating information. I can ask any question and get a cogent answer with enough accuracy for it to be useful. I have a personal Stackoverflow (and a million other help forums) where the expertise under those forums is captured.
- ChatGPT and friends like spreadsheets. They are beginner programming paradigm for creating natural-language interactions over the entirety of human information. That in itself is revolutionary. But, like spreadsheets, a few vendors will own this space - those that can train on all of human knowledge. Also, like spreadsheets, you can only go so far with a "prompt-based programming" without needing to build a real application that goes really deep into that domain.
- LLMs, like good CGI, works best when you don't see them. ChatGPT and friends can massively improve the ease of implementing applications that require all of human knowledge: search, recommendations, and other applications where you may have had ot rely on some hand-crafted knowledge graph. These have existing affordances to real users.
- It's easier and easier to train and. fine-tune LLMs on your own data, which makes using them transparently to interrogate
Far from it. Fatigue started months ago.
Suggest more ideas to use it for ... well ultimately make money