Heard a guy at the coffee shop call AI 'just a better autocomplete'

I was grabbing a coffee yesterday and overheard two developers talking. One of them said the new language model stuff is basically just fancy autocomplete, nothing truly new. It got me thinking about how we talk about innovation. Like, sure, it predicts the next word, but the scale and what it can do with that is the whole point. My own business website has a simple chatbot now that handles basic questions, and it saves me maybe 10 hours a month. That feels like more than just a typing tool. Has anyone else had a moment where a simple description of AI totally missed the mark for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

patp791mo ago

That "just fancy autocomplete" line is a huge oversimplification. It's like calling a car just a faster horse. The scale changes what it fundamentally is and can do. My smart home setup would be impossible with a simple text predictor.

david_hayes1mo ago

Yeah, @patp79, it's like saying a brain is just fancy meat.