David Shu

The available open models are extremely general purpose. And so at worst, you would be fine tuning from one of those to build a product. If you take one of the llamas or, I mean, there's a lot of talk about deep seek, which produces terrific results. It's a very large model. It'd be very hard to start with it.

The available open models are extremely general purpose. And so at worst, you would be fine tuning from one of those to build a product. If you take one of the llamas or, I mean, there's a lot of talk about deep seek, which produces terrific results. It's a very large model. It'd be very hard to start with it.

Though I understand there's some very good distilled work coming from it using other models.

Though I understand there's some very good distilled work coming from it using other models.

Yeah, I don't think your experience is unusual, actually. I think almost everyone has your experience. And for most software, I am in the same category. I try things at a very surface level when they're newish and see if there's any really obvious way they help me. And if they don't, I put them aside and come back later. A great example of that is the Git version control system.

Yeah, I don't think your experience is unusual, actually. I think almost everyone has your experience. And for most software, I am in the same category. I try things at a very surface level when they're newish and see if there's any really obvious way they help me. And if they don't, I put them aside and come back later. A great example of that is the Git version control system.

It was 10 years before I really sat down and used it. I was using other version control systems. After 10 years, I was like, okay, this thing's probably going to stick around. I guess I'll get over its user interface. Fine. I was reluctant, but I got there in the end. LLMs really struck me as fascinating.

It was 10 years before I really sat down and used it. I was using other version control systems. After 10 years, I was like, okay, this thing's probably going to stick around. I guess I'll get over its user interface. Fine. I was reluctant, but I got there in the end. LLMs really struck me as fascinating.

I made this active decision to not do that with them and set out on a process of trying to actively use them, which has involved learning just a really appalling amount, honestly. It's very reasonable that most engineers haven't done really significant things with LLMs yet because it's too much cognitive load. If you're writing computer programs, you're trying to solve a problem.

I made this active decision to not do that with them and set out on a process of trying to actively use them, which has involved learning just a really appalling amount, honestly. It's very reasonable that most engineers haven't done really significant things with LLMs yet because it's too much cognitive load. If you're writing computer programs, you're trying to solve a problem.

You only have so much of your brain available for the tools you use for solving problems because you have to fit the problem in there as well and the solution you're building. And that should be most of what you're thinking about. The tools should take up as little space as possible. And right now, to use LLMs effectively, you need to know too much about them. And

You only have so much of your brain available for the tools you use for solving problems because you have to fit the problem in there as well and the solution you're building. And that should be most of what you're thinking about. The tools should take up as little space as possible. And right now, to use LLMs effectively, you need to know too much about them. And

That was my big takeaway 11 months ago or so, which is why I started working on tools with some friends to try and figure this out.

That was my big takeaway 11 months ago or so, which is why I started working on tools with some friends to try and figure this out.

because there has to be a way to make this easier. And my main conclusion from all of that is there's an enormous amount of traditional engineering to do in front of LLMs to get there. So the first really effective thing I saw from LLMs is the same thing I think most engineers saw, which was GitHub Copilot, which is a code completion... Oh, so actually... GitHub Copilot has taken on new meanings.

because there has to be a way to make this easier. And my main conclusion from all of that is there's an enormous amount of traditional engineering to do in front of LLMs to get there. So the first really effective thing I saw from LLMs is the same thing I think most engineers saw, which was GitHub Copilot, which is a code completion... Oh, so actually... GitHub Copilot has taken on new meanings.

It's more than that now, right? Yeah, it's an umbrella brand that means all sorts of products. And I honestly haven't even used most of those products at this point. The original product

It's more than that now, right? Yeah, it's an umbrella brand that means all sorts of products. And I honestly haven't even used most of those products at this point. The original product

is a code completion system built into Visual Studio Code, where as you type, it suggests a completion for the line or a few lines beyond that of where you are, which is building on a very well-established paradigm for programming editors. Visual Studio 6.0 did this recently, 25 years ago with IntelliSense for completing methods in C++. This is not a new idea.

is a code completion system built into Visual Studio Code, where as you type, it suggests a completion for the line or a few lines beyond that of where you are, which is building on a very well-established paradigm for programming editors. Visual Studio 6.0 did this recently, 25 years ago with IntelliSense for completing methods in C++. This is not a new idea.