AI can't solve novel problems yet

4 ddxv 6 6/4/2025, 3:10:15 AM jamesoclaire.com ↗

Comments (6)

ddxv · 23h ago
https://github.com/blacktop/ipsw/issues/668#issuecomment-290...

I saw this hilarious exchange in one of the issues covering Apple’s recent changes that make it impossible to download IPA files.

Recreating an iPhone’s authentication to Apple App Store is a bit of a cat and mouse game. Apple recently changed it’s backend, so now dozens of projects are trying to find ways to circumvent or crack the Apple App Store download authentication.

Blacktop, out of likely boredom or curiosity, threw Claude at this issue for Claude to error out.

To be fair, it’s likely impossible for Claude to have figured this issue out. The ‘fix’ will be something quite novel, for example perhaps reverse engineering a way to authenticate with modern Apple App Store using an old Windows version of iTunes that is still supported.

Perhaps in the near future AI agents will be powerful enough to understand more complex environments, which will be interesting for these types of problems, but for now, it’s far from capable.

For anyone interested in the issue, this one is active as well: https://github.com/majd/ipatool/issues/357

NAHWheatCracker · 23h ago
Are there any well-thought treatises on what "novel" means?
beardyw · 18h ago
What "novel" means? I would say putting things together in a way which hasn't been done before. Just asked Gemini:

There are 2 wolves and 2 sheep in a field. How many sheep will there be tomorrow?

Answer: There will still be 2 sheep tomorrow.

Needs some visualisation which LLMs don't really do well.

ddxv · 23h ago
I was using it to mean new / not seen before problem. Perhaps that evokes a bit too grand concept? I know the issue I highlight is not that 'important' overall.

Edit: You're right the 'problem' might not be new/novel, just that the solution is new.

NAHWheatCracker · 23h ago
I wasn't criticizing the choice of word, apologies.

I'm interested if anyone has an idea of what it would mean for an AI to generate or do something "novel" in the sense of creatively new.

ddxv · 18h ago
Of course, I found the question interesting as well!