I think a camera is an excellent tool for producing photographs. It is a shitty tool for becoming a better painter.

Explained in TFA.

> A tool is something you wield.

> Control, sensory feedback, intention, intimacy, continuous direction, expertise etc are all missing from LLM use. LLMs are not wielded. LLMs are automation.

Cameras do indeed have sensory feedback, intention, intimacy, contentious direction, expertise, etc. So TFA would indeed describe a camera as a tool, not as automation.

Note also that TFA is not romanticizing effort, rather it is putting value to expertise:

> The continuous application of technique and energy, and sensory feedback, are essential to the buildup of expertise.

Yeah I mean a camera pretty precisely fits his definition of a tool. Not sure what your point is here.