It's worth asking whether LLMs are actually making us more productive at all—and if so, what we might be sacrificing in return.
Andrew Ho on Twitter / X
Not really observations that others before me haven’t made, but:- Despite the seemingly magical nature of LLMs, reflection over a >3 month timescale suggests my total productivity hasn’t increased by over 100%, or perhaps even by over 50%, and a lot of time is actually wasted…— Andrew Ho (@andrewho03) September 3, 2026
The scientific case for being nice to your chatbot
New research confirms that LLMs often perform better when you encourage them. But why?
The Ultimate Guide to Fine-Tuning LLMs from Basics to Breakthroughs: An Exhaustive Review of Technologies, Research, Best Practices, Applied Research Challenges and Opportunities (Version 1.0)
Cognitive exponents and LLM leverage
I know a few people for whom LLMs have been a near-immediate multiplier of attention and effort. I know a lot for whom LLMs clearly make them worse at thinking and doing things. So: why?
Dan Shipper 📧 on Twitter / X
this is true and is a big reason why you don’t need to be a highly technical researcher to use LLMs in surprising and novel ways https://t.co/TuxNzXzToU— Dan Shipper 📧 (@danshipper) July 27, 2025
How LLMs are and are not like the brain
Hi from buttondown! At the bottom of this newsletter is a bit of administrivia about the new platform How LLMs are and are not like the brain Beneath all the...
There's Something Fundamentally Wrong With LLMs
LLMs aren't trained on the "vast majority of speech," experts warn, a major blind spot that could have sweeping consequences.
An LLM wiki changed how I work
And everything else I learned about productivity this year
LLMs Are Accelerating the Open Source Sustainability Crisis
Adam Wathan, the creator of Tailwind CSS, has been speaking about how LLMs have made his project more popular than ever…while also making it fall apart financially, causing him to fire 75% of his engineers. “I think AI is a huge reason why our business is struggling, even though it’s making Tailwind more popular than ever.” — Adam Wathan (12:03) How is this possible? A major cause is that LLMs are blocking Tailwind’s creators and users from forming a relationship with each other.
LLM-generated skills work, if you generate them afterwards
LLM “skills” are a short explanatory prompt for a particular task, typically bundled with helper scripts. A recent paper showed that while skills are useful to LLMs, LLM-authored skills are not. From the abstract:
LLMs are a tool for thought
The oxygen from the air diffuses into your bloodstreams, is used for cellular respiration, and is transformed into carbon dioxide.
The LLM Critics Are Right. I Use LLMs Anyway.
I almost agree with all of the LLM critics, yet I still use LLMs a lot. I know this sounds like I am delusional, but I don't think I am alone with it.
