this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2023
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Great comparison. Like Blockchain, LLMs are an amazing technology with several potential applications. Like Blockchain, and every other technology, there is a lot more that they can't do than what they can. Like Blockchain, they're being hyped as the This Changes Everything that will finally bring us into "the future" (whatever that is). And finally, like with Blockchain, the people doing the most hyping are the ones that understand the least about the technology.
While I agree in general, Generative AIs have already changed much more about my everyday experience than Blockchain has in all these years.
The difference is that Generative AIs can be applied much more broadly for end users. You can run a small LLM, image generator, voice synthesizer etc at home. I don’t think any run-of-the-mill person actively uses Blockchain or Big Data for anything, really
The media vastly overhype LLMs etc, just like the do any new technology. Venture capitalists jump on the hype train, blowing it out of proportion. However, below all of that is what I consider genuinely transformative technology, with a long-term impact orders of magnitude above Blockchain.
My bank uses Blockchain to validate transactions. Yours probably does too. It also has applications in supply chain management, public and private record keeping of various kinds (such as patient records, real estate ownership records and basically any historical record where each entry is immutable and continues to matter even after several newer entries have been made), digital voting systems , energy trading/grid management and other DeFi applications other than cryptocurrencies, and more. I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty confident that its impact on the world economy has been and will continue to be much larger than generative AI's, at least of current-gen generative AI.
The real difference is in visibility. Blockchain is a background technology, running things silently, while LLMs are directly interacted with by the general public.
*Citation needed
Without a doubt blockchain has has an impact on the global economy, with an outsized improvement for narco cartels, North Korea, and other super above board transactions.
I'm sorry, I wrote my reply under the assumption that you were having this conversation in good faith. Now that I see that it isn't the case, I'll excuse myself. Have a great week.