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Comment by throwawaylaptop | Hacker News Reader

I have used both free and paid Google Gemini. I'm as cheap as can be. Im back to the free because it's good enough, and presumably getting better.

If they took away the free, I'd pay $20 and be thankful they kept it at $20.

I love doing things myself.. I mow my lawn, change my oil, change my water heater, and try to never use frameworks or libraries. But not using LLMs seems insane. If they weren't free, you wouldn't use them?

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The majority of the time I’ve used an LLM, it’s failed to do the task properly. The times that it worked are the times that a bit of Googling would have solved. I’m not OP, but I’m not at the point where I would spend money on an LLM either.

I have almost never had an LLM not do the task I wanted. Either I'm asking it very easy things (not really, you definitely couldnt Google the entire task of what I wanted, although obviously each tiny subsection you could), or it's important to scope what you're asking for well.

But as a general statement, you cant just Google a comprehensive summary about beta glucans from chanterelle mushrooms, dosages, cooking methods, immune benefits and processes and get a 10 minute read about exactly what you asked for. But with Gemini deep research you can.

I’ve started with tasks that I understand at an expert level myself. The LLM has invariably gotten surface-level work correct and subtle details wrong. Given those errors, I’m not willing to use them for things I don’t understand.

LLMs are good at generating text that sounds authoritative. They’re great for creative writing to share for a laugh with friends. I’m not at the point where I’m willing to use them for important work, let alone pay for them.

(I’ve yet to try them as a coding assistant, though. Maybe that’s the missing link.)

I've done this too and sure it's not perfect. But it's better than the average person in my industry. So, 1, that means a decent chunk of my industry could use it and be about as good as they are now.

2, unless I magically have a plan for talking to an expert in HVAC repair, and not just an idiot in HVAC, I can diagnose my HVAC unit with AI just fine. And I did. And no it wasn't as simple as "well duh, every post online says it's the large capacitor".

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