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Ask HN: Is it time to fork HN into AI/LLM and "Everything else/other?"

469 points bookofjoe | 40 comments | 15 Jul 25 14:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.582s | source | bottom

I would very much like to enjoy HN the way I did years ago, as a place where I'd discover things that I never otherwise would have come across.

The increasing AI/LLM domination of the site has made it much less appealing to me.

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simonw ◴[15 Jul 25 15:11 UTC] No.44571983[source]▶
I built you this: https://tools.simonwillison.net/hacker-news-filtered

It shows you the Hacker News page with ai and llm stories filtered out.

You can change the exclusion terms and save your changes in localStorage.

o3 knocked it out for me in a couple of minutes: https://chatgpt.com/share/68766f42-1ec8-8006-8187-406ef452e0...

Initial prompt was:

  Build a web tool that displays the Hacker
  News homepage (fetched from the Algolia API)
  but filters out specific search terms,
  default to "llm, ai" in a box at the top but
  the user can change that list, it is stored
  in localstorage. Don't use React.
Then four follow-ups:

  Rename to "Hacker News, filtered" and add a
  clear label that shows that the terms will
  be excluded

  Turn the username into a link to
  https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=xxx -
  include the comment count, which is in the
  num_comments key

  The text "392 comments" should be the link,
  do not have a separate thread link

  Add a tooltip to "1 day ago" that shows the
  full value from created_at
replies(21): >>44572045 #>>44572051 #>>44572058 #>>44572072 #>>44572117 #>>44572167 #>>44572402 #>>44572709 #>>44573004 #>>44573505 #>>44573595 #>>44574229 #>>44574695 #>>44574746 #>>44574897 #>>44575009 #>>44575796 #>>44575863 #>>44576014 #>>44576896 #>>44578374 #
fouronnes3 ◴[15 Jul 25 15:19 UTC] No.44572072[source]▶
Great example of the power of vibe coding. The first item is literally "Kiro: A new agentic IDE".
replies(4): >>44572173 #>>44573207 #>>44574135 #>>44574503 #
1. raincole ◴[15 Jul 25 15:26 UTC] No.44572173[source]▶
There is literally an input box to put terms you want to exclude...

The prompt asks for "filters out specific search terms", not "intelligently filter out any AI-related keywords." So yes, a good example of the power of vibe coding: the LLM built a tool according to the prompt.

replies(4): >>44572244 #>>44573662 #>>44574580 #>>44574660 #
2. FroshKiller ◴[15 Jul 25 15:35 UTC] No.44572244[source]▶
So I have to stay up to date on AI stories just to know what buzzwords I should filter so I don't see AI stories?
replies(9): >>44572311 #>>44572312 #>>44572318 #>>44572337 #>>44572587 #>>44573367 #>>44573411 #>>44573977 #>>44574637 #
3. simonw ◴[15 Jul 25 15:41 UTC] No.44572312[source]▶
Sounds to me like you want a deeper version of this that uses AI instead of keywords to help filter out AI stories.
replies(3): >>44572568 #>>44573494 #>>44573641 #
4. ChromaticPanic ◴[15 Jul 25 15:41 UTC] No.44572311[source]▶
That's how any filtering service works
5. raincole ◴[15 Jul 25 15:41 UTC] No.44572318[source]▶
...Yes? This is how this tool is coded. Machines do what one codes them to do, not what one wants them to do. If you're interested in making a more intelligent tool you can do it. This tool does exactly what @simonw says it does.
6. arcfour ◴[15 Jul 25 15:43 UTC] No.44572337[source]▶
A tool was offered that can accomplish what you want, with a very small amount of added effort on your part.

No, you do not have to "stay up to date on AI stories"—if you see one, add the keyword to the list and move on. There are not as many buzzwords as you seem to be implying, anyways.

If you are dissatisfied, you are welcome to build your own intelligent version (but I am not sure this will be straightforward without the use of AI).

7. shepherdjerred ◴[15 Jul 25 16:02 UTC] No.44572568{3}[source]▶
At a certain point it’s ironic
replies(1): >>44573071 #
8. Reubachi ◴[15 Jul 25 16:05 UTC] No.44572587[source]▶
Our brain decodes info based on context and extrapolation

This submission we're commenting on could be about filtering out any data, not just AI stuff. Politics, crypto, AI etc. Or more minute like "Trump" "fracking" "bitcoin" etc.

In any of these scenarios, with a tool designed to filter out content based on limited context, when would you ever be perfectly satisfied?

would you like AI to help you build the perfect context-filter model?

replies(1): >>44573295 #
9. tolerance ◴[15 Jul 25 16:40 UTC] No.44573071{4}[source]▶
I think we're well past that stage. Using AI to escape AI. Does that count?
replies(1): >>44573362 #
10. bee_rider ◴[15 Jul 25 16:58 UTC] No.44573295{3}[source]▶
And certainly in our anti-politics filter we’d want to include the filtering of stories that promote the extreme political position that tech is somehow detached from politics! (Especially Silicon Valley startup tech that owes so much to the local politics and economy of California).

Which is to say, filtering politics out is absurd, one person’s extreme politics is another’s default view of the universe.

replies(1): >>44573790 #
11. voisin ◴[15 Jul 25 17:02 UTC] No.44573362{5}[source]▶
I think there’s another step here: Using AI to build tools that use AI to escape AI.

Eventually: using AI to build tools that use AI to escape AI using tools that use AI.

replies(1): >>44573589 #
12. furyofantares ◴[15 Jul 25 17:03 UTC] No.44573367[source]▶
Add the buzzword when you see a story you don't like. Or settle with it filtering 90% of the AI content and just don't click on whatever remains, I doubt you expect the top story to be interesting to you 100% of the time.
13. sergiotapia ◴[15 Jul 25 17:05 UTC] No.44573411[source]▶
sounds like you need an AI to sort out and predict what you won't want to see ;)
14. ◴[15 Jul 25 17:14 UTC] No.44573494{3}[source]▶
15. tolerance ◴[15 Jul 25 17:21 UTC] No.44573589{6}[source]▶
> using AI to build tools that use AI to escape AI using tools that use AI

Few illustrations are so absurd yet feasible enough to depict as horrendous a reality as this.

replies(1): >>44574590 #
16. aleksituk ◴[15 Jul 25 17:25 UTC] No.44573641{3}[source]▶
Lol, yup. See azath92 comment - https://www.hackernews.coffee/
17. throwaway290 ◴[15 Jul 25 17:28 UTC] No.44573662[source]▶
The prompt was to exclude llm and ai by default though
replies(2): >>44573785 #>>44573821 #
18. marcellus23 ◴[15 Jul 25 17:38 UTC] No.44573785[source]▶
the prompt was "default to "llm, ai"", which is exactly what it did. Nothing in the prompt about defaulting to other related terms
replies(1): >>44578130 #
19. lazide ◴[15 Jul 25 17:39 UTC] No.44573790{4}[source]▶
In a similar vein, I’ve had people assert (in all seriousness), their English had no discernible accent because they were American.

It’s a similar kind of mindset.

20. Tostino ◴[15 Jul 25 17:42 UTC] No.44573821[source]▶
And that title didn't contain either of those words...what is the complaint again?
replies(2): >>44574121 #>>44574477 #
21. throwanem ◴[15 Jul 25 17:55 UTC] No.44573977[source]▶
Isn't it enough to bury yourself under the rock? - you want the fact of your having done so concealed from you also? But what about the fact of wanting that?
22. ackfoobar ◴[15 Jul 25 18:07 UTC] No.44574121{3}[source]▶
if all you want is word filtering in the title, you can simply write an adblock rule.
replies(1): >>44574406 #
23. dawnerd ◴[15 Jul 25 18:35 UTC] No.44574406{4}[source]▶
But how are you supposed to hype AI by using old tech like that?
replies(1): >>44575043 #
24. nice_byte ◴[15 Jul 25 18:42 UTC] No.44574477{3}[source]▶
because the point is literally to filter based on vibes not precise keywords
replies(1): >>44574691 #
25. johnb231 ◴[15 Jul 25 18:53 UTC] No.44574580[source]▶
Just write “there is an input box …”.

Stop saying “literally”.

replies(3): >>44574630 #>>44574892 #>>44575217 #
26. jwillp ◴[15 Jul 25 18:54 UTC] No.44574590{7}[source]▶
Clearly the US needs a constitutional amendment to preserve the right to keep and bear AI tools. Then we can arm the victims of AI tools with their own AI tools, for self-defense. If we're lucky, AI will send its AI thoughts and AI prayers in carefully calculated quantities.
replies(1): >>44574980 #
27. iLoveOncall ◴[15 Jul 25 18:57 UTC] No.44574630[source]▶
But there literally is an input box.
28. barbazoo ◴[15 Jul 25 18:58 UTC] No.44574637[source]▶
How about a version with LLM integration that detects "AI" related stories in a more clever way? /s
29. MisterTea ◴[15 Jul 25 19:01 UTC] No.44574660[source]▶
> The prompt asks for "filters out specific search terms"

So if I want a front page free of LLM "agents" but also want to view stories about secret agents it will do that, right?

replies(1): >>44574690 #
30. simonw ◴[15 Jul 25 19:03 UTC] No.44574690[source]▶
See comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44571740#44572312
31. Tostino ◴[15 Jul 25 19:03 UTC] No.44574691{4}[source]▶
That is not what the prompt I saw above asked for. It took him a few min. Write your own with a semantic based filter instead of a keyword based filter if that's what you want.
32. Dilettante_ ◴[15 Jul 25 19:25 UTC] No.44574892[source]▶
If you're unable to discern that the word serves a purpose(emphasis) in that sentence, I literally don't know what to say to you.
replies(3): >>44575078 #>>44575080 #>>44575433 #
33. tolerance ◴[15 Jul 25 19:34 UTC] No.44574980{8}[source]▶
Better yet, such expressions would be categorized as tokens of condolence at no expense to the public. Subsidized by the arms manufacturers.
34. nbex0080 ◴[15 Jul 25 19:41 UTC] No.44575043{5}[source]▶
Have AI write the rule and an article about having AI write the rule.
35. hluska ◴[15 Jul 25 19:45 UTC] No.44575078{3}[source]▶
Superfluous words serve no purpose, though your use of one here emphasizes your lack of maturity. If that’s your goal, good writing.
36. johnb231 ◴[15 Jul 25 19:46 UTC] No.44575080{3}[source]▶
Of course I can discern that. I think it sounds stupid and childish, and makes someone appear less intelligent. Overused and misused word. But this is now derailing the thread.
replies(1): >>44575867 #
37. pc86 ◴[15 Jul 25 19:59 UTC] No.44575217[source]▶
It's bad enough to expect other people to change the way they communicate to make you feel better.

It's another thing entirely when the way they're communicating is accurate and correct.

38. lazide ◴[15 Jul 25 20:21 UTC] No.44575433{3}[source]▶
It used to be that literally had a meaningful definition - quite literally. Now it doesn’t (see #2) [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally]

Not everyone has caught up.

39. hluska ◴[15 Jul 25 21:11 UTC] No.44575867{4}[source]▶
I’m with you here - it’s a completely superfluous word that the young have adopted as some form of belonging ritual. It has no purpose, adds no emphasis and is just poor English masquerading as a statement.
40. throwaway290 ◴[16 Jul 25 02:34 UTC] No.44578130{3}[source]▶
it's irony