Ask HN: Are LLMs just expensive search and scripting tools? Is it that simple?

4 points by edwin2 20 hours ago

Can all of LLMs be summarized as a (currently) really expensive search that allows you to express nuanced queries and script the output of the search? Why or why not?

Take code. In a sense, StackOverflow is about finding a code snippet for an already solved problem. Auto complete does the same kind of search in a sense.

Take generative text. In a sense that’s the equivalent of making a query and then aggregating the many results into one phrase. You could imagine the bot searching 1,000 websites and then taking the average of the answers to the query and then outputting the result.

Does every LLM use case fit the following pattern?…

query —-> LLM does its work —-> result —> script of result (optional)

adocomplete 19 hours ago

It's even simpler. It's just 1's and 0's.

minimaxir 19 hours ago

You're being reductive to the point that you're saying "LLMs are an algorithm like auto complete/search engine, therefore they're the same."

That's not how it works. They're different approaches to how they handle the same inputs.

  • edwin2 19 hours ago

    i would totally agree that they’re different approaches

    i wouldn’t conclude “therefore they’re the same”. they’re clearly not the same

    if it’s a different approach to search and scripting, does that not mean it is a kind of search and scripting?