2026-02-12 05:39 UTC
Replies (4)
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@brsrklf@jlai.lu 2026-02-12 06:31
A co-worker not long ago had AI (fucking copilot in this case) randomly trying to analyze a spreadsheet report with a list of users. There wasn't any specific need to do this right now, but, curious, he let it do its thing. The AI correctly identified it was a list of user accounts, and said it might be able to count them. Which would be ridiculously easy to do, since it's just a correctly formatted spreadsheet with each row being one user. So he says OK, count them for me. The AI apologizes, it can't process the file because it's too big to be passed fully as a parameter in a python script (OK, why and how are you doing that?) but says it might be able to process the list if it's copy-pasted into a text file. My co-worker is like, at that point, why fucking not? and does the thing. The AI still fails anyway and apologizes again. We're paying for that shit. Not specifically for copilot, but it was part of the package. Laughing at how it fails at simple tasks it set up for itself is slightly entertaining I guess, thanks Microsoft.
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@ImgurRefugee114@reddthat.com 2026-02-12 06:13
AI has a lot of pitfalls. It helps knowing how they work: tokens, context, training, harnesses and tools,... Because then nonsense like this makes a lot more sense; same for "count the R's in strawberry" type things. (For the record, I later told it to use JavaScript to manipulate strings to accomplish this task and it did a much better job. Still needed touchups of course)  They work best when you know how to accomplish whatever it is you're asking it to do, and can point it in a direction that leverages its strengths, and avoid weeknesses (often tied to perception and dexterity). Something like ASCII art is nearly a worst-case scenario, aside from maybe asking a general purpose LLM to do math.
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@Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2026-02-12 08:53
i used it for the first time a few weeks ago, cant trust the results as they dont verify the actual sources where they get numbers/cost from. it was about an ACA plan.
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@unnamed1@feddit.org 2026-02-12 06:12
You must have done things wrong. These cases actually work extremely well. Like it or not.