Antisocial Intelligence

I used ChatGPT the other day to optimize some software I'm working on.

I asked it for a particular kind of data structure and an algorithm that could efficiently associate and query sparse ranges with data, and it gave me a solution. It described a data structure and gave me an implementation that mostly worked. With a few minor adjustments, the benchmark I was trying to make faster got about 90% faster.

I had a problem and I solved it quickly with AI. A technological success story! Hooray!

Except it wasn't: it made me feel shitty. AI robbed me of asking my friends for help.

If I had run into this problem a few years ago, it would've likely gone differently:

• I would have asked my programming friends for help
• They would have helped point me in the right direction
• I would have then worked through the problem and been excited to share the results
• I would have felt good and thanked them
• They would feel good about having helped me

Instead, I was handed a solution from a network of glorified water heaters.

Social intelligence

About 25 years ago, I befriended a community of indie game developers. I was a teenager who just had gotten access to the Internet and I wanted to make video games. Looking around the web, I found some programmers who made games and game making tools together.

I asked dumb questions, made silly games, shared what I learned, helped each other, and as a result I became a better programmer.

Over the years, I stayed in contact with them, and after my first job out of college I ended up working with some of them in real life at a company called IMVU.

Working with them was an experience I look back on fondly. We worked well together, learned from each other, and kept pushing each other. I think of the years I spent at IMVU as formative stepping stones for my skills and career.

I was very lucky to have found that group at that time. And that luck was created and strengthened by asking dumb questions, making silly games, sharing what I learned, and helping each other.

And I would not have grown as much without them.

AI is antisocial intelligence

And now we have LLMs: tools that let you avoid the discomfort of asking for help.

These tools are impressive, but they rob us of this discomfort. Asking for help and offering help is what strengthens bonds between people.

And without these bonds, what are we?

I used to think of myself as a "self-taught" programmer, but that is a lie. I learned from my friends by asking questions and sharing what I've made.

It's the same sentiment Arnold Schwarzenegger shares in his speech at the University of Houston:

"As soon as you understand that you are here because of a lot of help—then you also understand that now is time to help others. That's what this is all about, you've got to help others. Don't just think about yourself. Help others."