Fuck this shit, why does every fucking thing need an LLM?
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Am I out of touch?
a writing assistant was one of the most requested features in our recent survey
Apparently, I am. People actually want this
For Proton Mail, 59% of respondents want an easier way to send end-to-end encrypted emails to non-Proton users, while 29% want a writing assistant for proofreading, grammar, and composing emails.
Nothing I hate more than not giving a link to the repo
Scribe relies on open source code and models, and is itself open source and therefore available for independent security and privacy audits
Not on their support page specifically for it either
Had to got to Reddit and look at their comments to find out they’re using Mistral
https://reddit.com/comments/1e68sof/comment/ldsbs24
We built Scribe in r/ProtonMail using the open-source model Mistral AI to empower anyone in need of email productivity to use a privacy-respecting alternative to r/ChatGPT or r/GeminiAI that:
❌ doesn’t log or save prompts
⛔️ doesn’t use your data for training
🔎 open-source code that anyone can inspect
🖥️ can be run locally, so your data never leaves your device
See the official announcement here: https://proton.me/blog/proton-scribe-writing-assistanthttps://huggingface.co/mistralai/Mistral-7B-v0.1/discussions/8
Hello, thanks for your interest and kind words! Unfortunately we’re unable to share details about the training and the datasets (extracted from the open Web) due to the highly competitive nature of the field. We appreciate your understanding!
Apparently, I am. People actually want this
Thank you for recognizing this. It gets quite frustrating in threads like these about new AI tools being deployed when people declare “nobody wants this!” And I try to explain that there are actually people that do want it. I find many AI tools to be quite handy.
I tend to get vigorously downvoted at that point, as if that would make the demand “go away” somehow. But sticking heads in sand doesn’t accomplish anything except to make people increasingly out of touch.
For me the issue here is, why put so much time and energy into basically rebranding an LLM. I’ve seen LLMs running on RPi and android phones. Why not write a blog post showing how to run LLMs locally with existing tools for the best privacy instead and put more focus on their existing services. It just seems like they’re jumping on the AI bandwagon and charging a premium for an already freely available LLM.
I see some benefits of AI like quality tts when using OSM and stt when transcribing/translating audio but other things like Googles AI answers and Microsofts Copilot leave me scratching my head wondering why consumer would want this
Probably because at the end of the day:
- Most people don’t have the tools or desire to figure out how to run an LLM locally.
- What if I run a local LLM on my PC and I leave my home? Do I now need to learn how to deploy a VPN at home so I always have access? I could do this, but I don’t want to. Oh, you know a model that runs on Android? What if I have an iPhone?
- Proton is a for-profit business that surveyed their customers and got feedback that customers wanted a writing assistant. This one seems the most important.
I think that the point is it’s entirely pointless building something like this into the email system. It should be a separate system that you can choose to use if you want it. Building it in just opens questions about exactly what they’re doing with your data, despite their assurances.
The thing that pisses me off the most is that they are disingenuous almost to the point of lying in interpreting that survey’s results. They say that 75% of users are interested in GenAI, when actually what they asked is whether people have used any GenAI at all in the recent past. And that still doesn’t mean they want GenAI in Proton. That’s a pretty significant sleight of hand. The more relevant question would have been the first one on what service people want the most. In that case only 29% asked for a writing assistant, which is still not the same thing as a full LLM. The most likely answer to “how many Proton customers want an LLM in Proton Mail” seems to be “few”.
Just unsubscribed from them. I just use their mail.
At least this one is open-source and quite privacy respecting
Yeah, and if that’s the case, it seems like people just hate AI for the sake of it now.
LLM’s are actually good at some things. Just not everything.
LLM’s are actually good at some things.
Just look at the most recent ecological reports about it and combine them with the AI industry growth plans. You’ll get an interesting perspective.
A lot of work has been going into making AIs more energy efficient, both in training and in inference stages. Electricity costs money, so obviously everyone’s interested in more efficient AIs. That makes them more profitable.
Still you can’t improve it that much. It’s like blockchain. Computers always consume a lot of power, no matter how efficient they are.
Funny you should mention blockchains. Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain after Bitcoin, switched from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake validation system two and a half years ago. That cut its energy use by 99.95%. The “blockchains are inherently a huge waste of energy” narrative is just firmly lodged in the popular view of them now, though, despite it being long proven false.
But that’s really good! And also means that cloud based AI is even worse than blockchain in terms of environmental impact.
