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I have my issues with certain usecases of GenAI but facets of it do fascinate me. Given how much hype-driven noise there is in this space (same as was with crypto), I like that I can visit your writings for clear takes and interesting explorations. "Shill" is certainly a mischaracterization.

There are some people who just reflexively do this against anyone affiliated with AI

There is also a really big problem with overblown and unrealistic expectations, thanks to breathless demos and media saturation. I think we are still on the downward slope of the trough of disillusionment for most of 2025.

In my humble but correct opinion you analysis of LLM's and the AI space is the best out there. Plus you are not trying to sell me anything - like all the other newsletters are. Thanks Simon!

People really struggle with the concept that you can be excited about AI technology while also thinking critically about its implications.

I appreciate your commentary and was happy to find you on Bluesky after I left x

Please don’t let the haters bring you down. People have extremely irrational views about these technologies. Both pro and con.

It's unfortunate. I work with AI and don't want to admit it at times. It's not even generative, just classification. All of our data is collected with data owner consent, etc. But, I do understand why people are exhausted by the term "AI"

I think I'll pass on that one...

Is the Mastodon hated mostly an effect of the network being anti-corporative, so it tends to blanket-judge everything, ignoring the good stuff? It's a bit of a pity

I find the comparison itself totally nonsensical.

Yes it is fair, it's better to focus on your expertise than rambling about things you have no idea what you are talking about. P.S. your example is not even analogous, in this case it's only one person, simon

But you could give the exact same argument you gave... "not everyone commenting on the Gaza conflict should take the entirety of the conflict into account" Well perhaps, but it would seem dishonest at best

that's why I personally exited the AI field. I know I could make much more money there, and even have stimulating work there but I'd be "working on the atom bomb" that's not satisfying for me in terms of values

Avoiding "accelerating tech in the hands of the powerful" is a driving motivation for me - it's why I spend so much effort showing people how to understand and use this stuff, and why I track both openly licensed models that run on personal devices and the falling costs of hosted models

I did do this project around Russian election interference via Facebook ads six years ago - the all itself is no longer online though simonwillison.net/2018/Aug/6/r...

All your writing on this topic (among many others) is exemplary. I learn a ton from you on this, both about benefits and limits of LLMs.

I guess I could just read your blog, save my time and get summary everything. But it still interests me. - 2/2

You just inspired me to write more! 🙂

how do you make money?

My review post of 2024 was an outlier, I didn't measure but I would guess that was at least four hours of writing and another accumulated two hours of jotting down notes for it over the previous few weeks

ooh nice flex/burn lol

Completely agree, I thought of the same comparison! Molly's writings got me through the crypto craze, and now I rely on Simon's work for keeping up with things going on now.

the admiration is mutual!

The non-hostile AI conversations on here have started to pick up in the past few weeks but they're still reasonably rare, I'm hoping that changes over time

It's a risk, but I'm aware of that. I tend to dislike things I agree with but are too aggressive, and like things I disagree with but are smart or challenging. Also, I really need to filter out NBA and NFL (I tend to follow a lot of sports people because of soccer).

Perhaps "things that interest me?"

It's an interesting idea to be able to ingest a someones feed and have an LLM judgement of whether they meet some niche category of interest or personality type. Basically automated personal.

I see what you mean. However, there's a bunch of people here who work in AI for good and useful applications! I hope the network continues to grow, I think it will. That way others can also see the good part of AI, 'cause I don't blame them, there's a lot of actual bad stuff

From the horse's mouth etc. Interestingly enough, Gemini Flash 2.0 produces really long and detailed responses, but it doesn't think you're shill either.

we know you are are one of the good guys and an outstanding source of up-to-date knowledge. Ignore the trolls.

It is hard to strike the balance! And just to be extra clear all of that was offered expressly as “Here’s a charitable take on your work [which I very much appreciate] that might give some insight into why you might come off this way to some of your readers.”

Now, all of that said: I do think your overall tone seems quite LLM-positive. And one major contribution to that is that most of (what I can recall of) your ethics posts are quoting others; you do more extended writing and commentary on usage and capabilities. That impacts how your work *feels*.

It seems that if you're not rabidly anti AI, then you're a tech bro sellout. AI is very polarising. It's a fundamental threat to many and very emotive topic. There's little room left for honest conversation about how it's both bad and good, just like its creators.

If you ain't got no haters, you ain't poppin

There are not a lot of independent thinkers who write about LLM's in an original and bias free way, but you are for sure the first person I think of. The debate is quite polarised so when you are in the center both ends will judge you

The "strategy" of Putin is to fund both a group, and it's opposite, and have them confront to build social unrest He doesn't have clear ideologies he's trying to put forward, except: "bring civil war everywhere, so that western democracies are infighting and I can do what I want"