Simon Willison

Exactly. So, you know, I feel like there is one aspect of agents that I do believe in for the most part. And that's the research assistant thing. You know, these ones where you say, for hours and hours and hours, find everything you can try and piece things together. I've got access to one. There are a few of those already.

Exactly. So, you know, I feel like there is one aspect of agents that I do believe in for the most part. And that's the research assistant thing. You know, these ones where you say, for hours and hours and hours, find everything you can try and piece things together. I've got access to one. There are a few of those already.

There's the Google Gemini have something called deep research that I've been playing with. That's pretty good, you know?

There's the Google Gemini have something called deep research that I've been playing with. That's pretty good, you know?

Okay, yeah, interesting. There's some kind of beta that I'm in. I can actually, so I can share one example of something that did for me. So I live in Half Moon Bay. We have lots of pelicans. I love pelicans. I use them in all of my examples and things. And I was curious as to where are, where are the most California brown pelicans in the world?

Okay, yeah, interesting. There's some kind of beta that I'm in. I can actually, so I can share one example of something that did for me. So I live in Half Moon Bay. We have lots of pelicans. I love pelicans. I use them in all of my examples and things. And I was curious as to where are, where are the most California brown pelicans in the world?

And I ran it through Google deep research and it figured out we're number two. We have the second largest mega of brown pelicans. And it gave me a PDF file from an, from a bird group in 2009 who did the survey. And it was, you know, it, it, right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm convinced that it found me the right information. And that's really exciting. Alameda are number one.

And I ran it through Google deep research and it figured out we're number two. We have the second largest mega of brown pelicans. And it gave me a PDF file from an, from a bird group in 2009 who did the survey. And it was, you know, it, it, right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm convinced that it found me the right information. And that's really exciting. Alameda are number one.

They have the largest mega roost. Oh, my God.

They have the largest mega roost. Oh, my God.

Point being, the research assistant that goes away and digs up information and gives you back the citations and the quotes and everything, that already works to a certain extent right now. I think that's over the course of the year, I expect that to get really, really good. I think we'll all be using those. The ones that go out and spend money on your behalf, that's ludicrous.

Point being, the research assistant that goes away and digs up information and gives you back the citations and the quotes and everything, that already works to a certain extent right now. I think that's over the course of the year, I expect that to get really, really good. I think we'll all be using those. The ones that go out and spend money on your behalf, that's ludicrous.

I hate that one so much that sometimes I call that digital twins, which is an abusive term that actually does exist, right? A digital twin is when you have like a simulation of your hydroelectric cam or whatever. But yeah, it's the biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard.

I hate that one so much that sometimes I call that digital twins, which is an abusive term that actually does exist, right? A digital twin is when you have like a simulation of your hydroelectric cam or whatever. But yeah, it's the biggest pile of bullshit I've ever heard.

The idea that you can get an LM and give it access to all of your like notes and your emails and stuff that can go and make decisions on your behalf in meetings. Based on being this weird zombie simulation of you?

The idea that you can get an LM and give it access to all of your like notes and your emails and stuff that can go and make decisions on your behalf in meetings. Based on being this weird zombie simulation of you?

To be fair, I think we've had that exact kind of agent for two years almost. ChatGPT code interpreter was the very first version of a thing where ChatGPT writes code, runs it in the Python interpreter, gets the error message, reruns the code. They got that working in March of 2023. And it's kind of weird that other systems are just beginning to do what they've been doing for two years.

To be fair, I think we've had that exact kind of agent for two years almost. ChatGPT code interpreter was the very first version of a thing where ChatGPT writes code, runs it in the Python interpreter, gets the error message, reruns the code. They got that working in March of 2023. And it's kind of weird that other systems are just beginning to do what they've been doing for two years.

Like some of those sort of things that call themselves agents that are like IDEs and so forth, they're getting to that point. And that pattern just works. And it's pretty safe. You know, you want to be able to... have it run the code in a sandbox so it can't accidentally delete everything on your computer. But sandboxing isn't that difficult these days. So yeah, that I do buy.

Like some of those sort of things that call themselves agents that are like IDEs and so forth, they're getting to that point. And that pattern just works. And it's pretty safe. You know, you want to be able to... have it run the code in a sandbox so it can't accidentally delete everything on your computer. But sandboxing isn't that difficult these days. So yeah, that I do buy.