P vs NP analogy explains differing views on AI utility
CatAstro_Piyush · x · 2026-08-23
Retweets Peter Nilsen's insight: the disconnect in viewing AI's impact stems from whether one's job is "P-like" (checking a solution is as hard as solving it) or "NP-like" (verifying a solution is easy). For "P-like" jobs like writing (cited as Ed Zitron's case), AI's unreliability is a major deal because verification is costly. However, for "NP-like" tasks, AI offers significant value because verifying the AI's output is much easier than solving the problem from scratch.
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