←back to thread

Show HN: Clippy – 90s UI for local LLMs

(felixrieseberg.github.io)
1122 points felixrieseberg | 7 comments | 06 May 25 15:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
Show context
mrandish ◴[06 May 25 16:53 UTC] No.43907199[source]▶
Great idea! I've been humorously referring to chat agents as next gen Clippy because of their chipper, talky default personas which I find insufferably annoying.

I'm kind of shocked Microsoft didn't already do this as an alt version of their CoPilot UI. Really a huge miss on their part because I hate the overbearingly intrusive way they keep forcing it into their OS, apps and my fucking laptop keyboard. If they at least acknowledged their behavior and owned it (with a sly wink), I'd hate it a little less. I might even be up for a "Clippy is my CoPilot" sticker on my laptop (calling back to the old 80s "Jesus is my Copilot" bumper stickers).

replies(15): >>43907398 #>>43907479 #>>43907590 #>>43907729 #>>43907921 #>>43908440 #>>43908923 #>>43909342 #>>43909871 #>>43911077 #>>43911198 #>>43912701 #>>43913063 #>>43914350 #>>43916787 #
freedomben ◴[06 May 25 17:10 UTC] No.43907398[source]▶
> I'm kind of shocked Microsoft didn't already do this as an alt version of their CoPilot UI.

Seriously! This makes me think nobody at Microsoft with the authority to approve something like that has a sense of humor and/or good business sense. The nostalgia would be enormous. Hell I'm a linux person now and I'd install Clippy if it supported Fedora

replies(2): >>43907836 #>>43909455 #
snoman ◴[06 May 25 20:44 UTC] No.43909455[source]▶
Clippy was a laughing stock and target of derisive comedy for years. It has such bad brand recognition that nobody should be surprised that they aren’t using it.
replies(11): >>43909586 #>>43909845 #>>43910039 #>>43910735 #>>43910820 #>>43911443 #>>43911538 #>>43912170 #>>43912189 #>>43913135 #>>43917817 #
1. hosh ◴[06 May 25 23:45 UTC] No.43910820{4}[source]▶
I remember Clippy, but I don't remember why it was annoying. I am thinking that Robert Brooke's 3 laws of robotics applies here. (He had written one for AI but I think his thoughts on robotics are more relavent to AI agents).
replies(2): >>43911513 #>>43912689 #
2. hnfong ◴[07 May 25 01:56 UTC] No.43911513[source]▶
It tends to randomly barge into your UI when you thought you dismissed/disabled it. And never provides any useful information or suggestions.
replies(1): >>43911668 #
3. bcoates ◴[07 May 25 02:28 UTC] No.43911668[source]▶
"It looks like you’re trying to write a term paper at 2am the night before it’s due, do you want me to just put out some LLM slop and hope for the best?"
replies(1): >>43960996 #
4. acutesoftware ◴[07 May 25 06:06 UTC] No.43912689[source]▶
I think it was the modal dialog box that forced you to stop what you were doing and click 'piss off clippy', rather than being able to ignore it.
replies(2): >>43913021 #>>43917947 #
5. trinix912 ◴[07 May 25 07:17 UTC] No.43913021[source]▶
Additionally, there was an option that was on by default to use Clippy in place of confirmation dialogs. You'd try to close an unsaved file and instead of the usual Windows dialog you'd get Clippy asking whether you'd like to save changes instead.
6. hosh ◴[07 May 25 16:48 UTC] No.43917947[source]▶
So going by https://rodneybrooks.com/rodney-brooks-three-laws-of-robotic...

That would be violating the second design principle:

"When robots and people coexist in the same spaces, the robots must not take away from people’s agency, particularly when the robots are failing, as inevitably they will at times."

With a physical robot, if it fails and freezes, it turns into a hazard.

With Clippy, it intrusively stops humans from being able to do what they are doing.

7. eru ◴[12 May 25 08:59 UTC] No.43960996{3}[source]▶
That might actually be a good idea.