I don't like LLMs

以下正文同步自 Martin Fowler，版权归原站所有，已转换为易读排版。

I have a lot of mixed feelings about AI and LLM technology. I’m

fascinated by its effect on our profession, excited by the potential gains

in productivity - and thus the products we could rapidly build. On the other

hand, I’m fearful of the damage AI might cause: agent swarms taking over our

virtual and physical infrastructure, designing bio weapons. But, back on my

first hand, LLMs might also design miracle cures, and come up with clever

ways to raise our prosperity. Fundamentally I don’t think we have a choice

about riding on the AI technology train. It’s a wild ride and I just hope

we’ll get through it OK.

But as I mull on this more, I realize that among this mix of contrasting

feelings, there is one emotion that dominates - one that comes from my

direct interactions with LLMs. I don’t like them. They talk to me in this

grating LLM-voice, an uncanny valley of talking to a real human. They

confidently bullshit me - often giving me useful, helpful answers. But

also just making stuff up with the same assurance - and with only a veneer

of fake remorse when I call them out on it.

That’s not enough to make me feel we should avoid them. As Jessica Kerr

put it “not

only are they useful, it is irresponsible not to use them…. They’re more

thorough, as well as faster.” This contradictory reaction comes through in

polling, where people say they find these models are

useful, but also that they think they will be bad for society.

Much of this may be because LLMs are young - we haven’t trained them to

grow up yet. Maybe I’ll like them once they mature. (I hope we get to find

out.) But I’m not encouraged when I think of the kinds of environments that

cultivate them. I’m wary of the Silicon Valley brogrammer subculture, and these

LLMs are their products, so naturally lean toward their world-view. When we

think of AI agents, we shouldn’t anthropomorphize, treating them as

conscious beings with their own will. They are (software) machines,

developed by people working in corporations. While the agents’ behavior aren’t

explicitly programmed, they are nurtured with the values of their

creators.

One of my most successful life-hacks is to avoid people I don’t like or

don’t trust. I decline to interact with them socially, and make a deliberate

effort to avoid working with them too, even if they are doing much that is

beneficial. I feel that hanging out with pleasant, capable people, the people

with integrity, has made my life a far better one. Hence my visceral dislike

of interacting with an LLM that’s not just making a pretense of being human,

but also posing as the kind of human I walk away from.

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