Cory Doctorow on why centaurs like AI

Like we said before, LLMs are tools. They have some impressive functionality and can be highly useful if you understand them and know the job that needs to be done. Cory Doctorow has done a fine job over the years explaining this distinction, as well as the fundamental misalignment of incentives between what LLMs are good for and what the AI industry needs people to see them as in order to keep the bubble inflated. The linked article is highly recommended (and is considerably more nuanced than the title would suggest).The other question Suresh implicitly raises is: "How can you reconcile the failure of AI in the enterprise with the individual claims of skilled technologists who insist that AI is helping them do great work?" The answer is that these AI users are "centaurs" – experienced workers who are assisted by automation on terms that they set for themselves.Thanks to their skill and experience, these workers possess discernment, the ability to tell good code from bad, and (more…