200 karma · joined November 2, 2021
A concrete example: GPU performance optimization for a kernel. This was (and still is) a very niche domain with not many top-notch experts. But kernel performance and characteristics are easily verifiable. You can run the agent in a closed loop for it to improve iteratively (and people are already doing it, coming up with kernels better than human-written ones).
You see Tao's example because:
1. He is curious (so he asks detailed questions, which are not necessarily needed in a closed-loop optimization).
2. Verification in math is harder. Many math tasks used in RL are easily verifiable. But for advanced open conjectures that require long proofs, you cannot trust the proof directly from the LLM (so it's not as easily verifiable as basic math problems or code). The model needs to write it in Lean, and you still need to make sure the Lean implementation correctly captures the specification of the problem. So you still need a human for verification in advanced math. But I don't see why you would need this in domains like performance improvement.
I don't particularly like the guy; I'm just curious to see if he is objectively a liar in a way that most engineers, executives, or humans are not, or if this perception is simply a bias stemming from the general negative sentiment toward him.
2. If you think LLMs cannot help with navigating ambiguity and requirements, you are wrong. it might not be able to 100% crack it (due to not having all the necessary context), but still help a lot.
1. Ask AI to come up with the different options and let you review it
2. You think about the options and ask AI for feedback
#1 is much faster but results in atrophy (you are not critically coming up with the architecture changes)
#2 uses your and AI skills but it's gonna be slower.
which one will you choose? currently i'm doing #1