Not to dismiss Chollet’s work, but I’m starting to think he need prove nothing to even the muggles. For example, nearly any endurance athlete stands a good chance of being a Strava user. If you run in those circles, have you heard a single person with anything good to say about Strava’s “Athletic Intelligence”? Garmin is rolling out a beta right now that includes “AI Insights” or summat. Same deal: useless summaries like “you ran 5 miles today, which contributes to your aerobic base”. I could do better with a database and some if/else statements. And Garmin wants a subscription for this. (It’s included in Strava’s subscription, but I suppose you’re still paying for it.) And so now the memes tend toward “dumb AI insight of the day” on many online forums.

Seems to me that a lot of folks are enjoying having an LLM rewrite their email or whatever, but I wonder how many are actually buying the rest of it? The companies themselves sure aren’t helping.