This is an argument that I do not agree with, but I 100% can respect.

I would assert that the LLMs are irrelevant here, the kid has an aptitude for engineering with or without LLMs. He clearly is capable of processing information and producing compelling content on his own.

Likewise, his peers may have their own faculties that will grant them an advantage in life. But I don’t think failing to leverage existing technologies will do them any good. Using textbooks, the internet, and LLMs are various technologies that can be used effectively or detrimentally.

Other students may succeed, not due to their unwillingness to adopt LLMs, but in spite of it.

It seems you’re hyper focused on an overly literal interpretation of a meme. Of course blindly outputting chatgpt’s response is an ineffective strategy and doing the student a disservice. So is copying a textbook or plagiarizing from the Internet.

But rigging this bad boy up? That’s innovative, and more importantly, makes a funny image.

Let’s look at your arguments:

1. 3d printing hasn’t taken off: I think you underestimate just how important rapid prototyping and additive manufacturing has been in industry. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t make it unimportant. Here you can see some aircraft brackets that were 3d printed. https://www.metal-am.com/amgta-shows-additive-manufacturings-role-in-lightweighting-aircraft-engine-bracket/

2. Corporate proprietary software. Neither cad nor LLMs are strictly corporate proprietary software. And I hate to break it to you but corporate proprietary software is not inherently evil and is commonly required in academic and professional environments. https://openscad.org/ https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/list-of-open-source-large-language-models-llms-4eac551bda2e

3. He cannot speak for himself… It’s better to parrot correct ideas than to articulate incorrect ones. Joking aside I don’t see where you got this idea from, it seems he has plenty of creativity and aptitude for independent thought.

4. What happens when chatgpt starts censoring answers. Most llms are already censored and by their architecture they are specifically designed to make shit up. So any reasonable implementation would review and edit the output, a point you yourself already caught on to so again I fail to see your point here.

5. Is he going to carry a 3d printer? I remember hearing the same thing about calculators.

6. Your doom and gloom conclusion. LLMs are a tool that can be leveraged effectively or can be used to fuck yourself over quite quickly. However your ludditical (ludditicarian, luddilicious, luddite-loving, what’s the right word here?) prevent progress, allow fascists to take advantage of the fact that you are uneducated and endanger our society and those you love.

The Times They Are A-Changin’

And don’t criticize What you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin’ Please get out of the new one If you can’t lend your hand. For the times they are a-changin’

Nice thing about AI is, there’s more than just ChatGPT out there. And many actually are open and you can run them at home if you want.

The chat GPT interface is literally the simplest part of the whole solution. It requires wiring custom GCODE compiler from vector text and of course converting text to vector graphics. I bet this guy easily could learn anything he wanted to use and is one of the creative guys this society actually runs on in the long term.

Entirely too smart of a take for this thread. All OOP is doing is ensuring he’s replaceable with AI