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Using LLMs at Oxide

(rfd.shared.oxide.computer)
694 points steveklabnik | 2 comments | 07 Dec 25 01:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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thundergolfer ◴[07 Dec 25 01:46 UTC] No.46178458[source]▶
A measured, comprehensive, and sensible take. Not surprising from Bryan. This was a nice line:

> it’s just embarrassing — it’s as if the writer is walking around with their intellectual fly open.

I think Oxide didn't include this in the RFD because they exclusively hire senior engineers, but in an organization that contains junior engineers I'd add something specific to help junior engineers understand how they should approach LLM use.

Bryan has 30+ years of challenging software (and now hardware) engineering experience. He memorably said that he's worked on and completed a "hard program" (an OS), which he defines as a program you doubt you can actually get working.

The way Bryan approaches an LLM is super different to how a 2025 junior engineer does so. That junior engineer possibly hasn't programmed without the tantalizing, even desperately tempting option to be assisted by an LLM.

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smcameron ◴[07 Dec 25 13:51 UTC] No.46181685[source]▶
I found it funny that in a sentence that mentions "those who can recognize an LLM’s reveals", a few words later, there's an em-dash. I've often used em-dashes myself, so I find it a bit annoying that use of em-dashes is widely considered to be an AI tell.
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1. bcantrill ◴[07 Dec 25 16:22 UTC] No.46182850[source]▶
The em-dash alone is not an LLM-reveal -- it's how the em-dash is used to pace a sentence. In my experience, with an LLM, em-dashes are used to even pacing; for humans (and certainly, for me!), the em-dash is used to deliberately change pacing -- to introduce a pause (like that one!), followed by a bit of a (metaphorical) punch. The goal is to have you read the sentence as I would read it -- and I think if you have heard me speak, you can hear me in my writing.
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2. thundergolfer ◴[07 Dec 25 19:13 UTC] No.46184200[source]▶
Too much has been written about em-dashes and LLMs, but I'd highly recommend If it cites em dashes as proof, it came from a tool from Scott Smitelli if you haven't read it.

It's a brilliant skewering of the 'em dash means LLM' heuristic as a broken trick.

1. https://www.scottsmitelli.com/articles/em-dash-tool/