Software Misadventures LLMs are like your weird, over-confident intern | Simon Willison (Datasette)
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Sep 10, 2024 
Simon Willison, co-creator of Django and Datasette, shares insights on navigating the world of LLMs. He compares LLMs to a quirky intern and discusses their evolution, emphasizing the importance of blogging for accountability. Simon dives into productive use of GitHub issues for documentation, and the nuances of prompt engineering. He also reflects on how LLMs can foster ambition in developers while addressing their limitations. Finally, he shares the exciting journey of developing a startup with his partner, blending personal and professional life.
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Early LLM Experiments
- Simon Willison's early LLM experiments with GPT-2 in 2020 yielded limited results.
- GPT-3's completion model capabilities became clearer in 2021-2022, particularly for code generation.
ChatGPT's Impact
- The widespread adoption of ChatGPT in November 2022 accelerated the understanding of its capabilities.
- Blogging about these developments established Simon as a prominent voice in the field.
Blogging for Accountability
- Maintain a blog to document learnings and insights, even if it's short daily posts.
- This practice fosters accountability, encourages deeper thinking, and builds a valuable archive.