Competence in the Age of LLMs | Peter Danenberg | TEDxCSTU

LLMs and Cognitive Impact - LLMs may lead to neurological inertia and impact long-term competence and mastery [6] - Over-reliance on LLMs can cause engineers to outsource critical thinking, becoming verifiers instead of thinkers [15] - Microsoft's study suggests tool creators have a responsibility to challenge users and promote growth [16] Poetic vs Parastic LLMs - LLMs excel at the "poetic" art of generation (rhetoric), producing fluent text and compilable code [10] - The industry needs to explore "parastic" LLMs (dialectic) that challenge users to develop their own ideas [11][15] - Current LLMs are fundamentally poetic and may require retraining to become parastic [15] Achieving Competence in the Age of LLMs - Users should actively ask LLMs to challenge them and demonstrate mastery [17] - AI tool builders need to align models to challenge users, even if it impacts engagement metrics [17][18] - The goal is to create tools that "enkindle the soul" by fostering growth and lifelong learning [18]