In a perfect world such a disclaimer would help anyone reading the output by setting expectations. We each have different experiences with this, and different levels of acceptance. Knowing that something is using generated content can help anyone either accept / skim / thoroughly review something.
The problem is that we're seeing lots of backlash, often for ideological reasons, or for outdated somewhat technical reasons, so people have less of an incentive to be honest, and tons of incentives to hide their use.
> 1. You believe in ascribing credit where credit is due. Using an LLM feels like cheating so disclosing it makes you feel less like an imposter for having produced something amazing.
Cheating isn't the right word here. Crediting LLMs is about giving everyone involved accurate information which can be used for later decision making (e.g. if something unexpected happens as a result of a LLM-ism).
I'm always skeptical of a recommendation to a technical problem when someone tells me they used an LLM chatbot like CoPilot. They really are just slot machines. Sometimes the answer works. Sometimes it doesn't. On the other hand, when someone tells me they googled it and found an article - not that AI overview crap - I trust it more because I know it was written and tested by a human.
This is a little silly — if I quote a large passage from an encyclopedia (or whatever), I cite the source. If I use an LLM to write some of a paper or report, I’m not writing that part (even if I edit it or rephrase it or whatever) so I’d better credit the LLM in whatever way is most consistent with how its output is being presented in the paper.
Taking credit for something you didn't do, whether it was done by another person or by an LLM, is dishonest and unethical. Prompting an LLM to create something is obviously not the same thing as creating it, and I feel this article is trying to normalize tacit plagiarism. In most contexts I'm aware of where assigning credit actually matters, human authorship and LLM authorship are very much distinguished, and failing to "credit the LLM" in some cases can even have legal consequences.
(You don't have to mention LLMs every time you use them because sometimes the credit really doesn't matter.)
> But for the first reason, I’d challenge the notion of sharing credit with a tool, let alone feeling like a cheat for using one.
That's the main reason LLMs aren't "just a tool."
> Credit and accountability are two sides of the same coin. A tool can only take as much credit as it can be held accountable for, so crediting it inadvertently dilutes your own accountability for the work.
Huh? No, credit and accountability are pretty orthogonal. I use tons of open-source tools, and everyone agrees that the respective authors get credit for what they made, but only I am accountable for my use of them. In fact, all open-source licenses spell this out explicitly.
I completely agree. All crediting LLMs does is give the companies that built them precisely the kind of ego stroking feedback they want. I bet Dario giggles with excitement every time he sees "Claude" as the author of a git commit. People are feeding directly into y heir narrative that these tools are not tools but somehow replacements for human beings.
You piloted the LLM, you are responsible for the code. I don't sign my commits with "autocompletions by Intellij". This whole thing is nonsense.
As for the possibilities listed in TFA, I personally think the most common one is people just blaming the tool or hoping to use citation as cover for slop work. It's basically an admission of "I didn't look into this as thoroughly as I myself think I should have to really understand what I'm doing". Don't be that person. If you don't understand what you are doing prompt the LLM with questions until you do understand. It isn't difficult.
In a perfect world such a disclaimer would help anyone reading the output by setting expectations. We each have different experiences with this, and different levels of acceptance. Knowing that something is using generated content can help anyone either accept / skim / thoroughly review something.
The problem is that we're seeing lots of backlash, often for ideological reasons, or for outdated somewhat technical reasons, so people have less of an incentive to be honest, and tons of incentives to hide their use.
No one minds when I credit a fuzzer for finding a bug. I hope we can use the same pragmatic attitude for LLM help.
Cheating isn't the right word here. Crediting LLMs is about giving everyone involved accurate information which can be used for later decision making (e.g. if something unexpected happens as a result of a LLM-ism).
(You don't have to mention LLMs every time you use them because sometimes the credit really doesn't matter.)
> But for the first reason, I’d challenge the notion of sharing credit with a tool, let alone feeling like a cheat for using one.
That's the main reason LLMs aren't "just a tool."
> Credit and accountability are two sides of the same coin. A tool can only take as much credit as it can be held accountable for, so crediting it inadvertently dilutes your own accountability for the work.
Huh? No, credit and accountability are pretty orthogonal. I use tons of open-source tools, and everyone agrees that the respective authors get credit for what they made, but only I am accountable for my use of them. In fact, all open-source licenses spell this out explicitly.
You piloted the LLM, you are responsible for the code. I don't sign my commits with "autocompletions by Intellij". This whole thing is nonsense.
As for the possibilities listed in TFA, I personally think the most common one is people just blaming the tool or hoping to use citation as cover for slop work. It's basically an admission of "I didn't look into this as thoroughly as I myself think I should have to really understand what I'm doing". Don't be that person. If you don't understand what you are doing prompt the LLM with questions until you do understand. It isn't difficult.