‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

How to Write with an LLM

769 points · 420 comments · joeriddles

  1. drdaeman · · focus · HN ↗
    > Rule Number One: You may not use a single word an LLM suggests to you.

    I think there's a use case where this rule can be ignored. Sometimes I ask LLM to help me pick a single word or short phrase in some language, that has specific meaning, and connotations. Or doesn't carry some connotations or associations. Especially when I have an idiom from some language in mind, but I'm writing in some other language and my brain struggles to find a good replacement.

    LLMs are super handy as fancy vibe-based dictionary search engines. They're all about words that go with other words, so when I'm struggling for a good term, I see no harm in asking and picking an option that I feel closest to what I want to express. My choice, my voice, just a very fancy thesaurus machine.

    1. mschnell · · focus · HN ↗
      Exactly. I often ask for a list of words that describe a specific concept. The choice is made by me.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.