It’s easier not to have that separation, just like it was easier not to separate them before LLMs. This is architectural stuff that just hasn’t been figured out yet.
With databases there exists a clear boundary, the query planner, which accepts well defined input: the SQL-grammar that separates data (fields, literals) from control (keywords).
There is no such boundary within an LLM.
There might even be, since LLMs seem to form adhoc-programs, but we have no way of proving or seeing it.
There cannot be, without compromising the general-purpose nature of LLMs. This includes its ability to work with natural languages, which as one should note, has no such boundary either. Nor does the actual physical reality we inhabit.
Since GPS-OSS there is also the Harmony response format (https://github.com/openai/harmony) that instead of just having a system/assistant/user split in the roles, instead have system/developer/user/assistant/tool, and it seems to do a lot better at actually preventing users from controlling the LLM too much. The hierarchy basically becomes "system > developer > user > assistant > tool" with this.
Sometimes PRDs might be boilerplate, but there’s been times where I sat down thinking “I can’t believe these dumbasses want to foo a widget”, but when writing the user story I get into their heads a little and I realize that widgets are useless if they can’t be foo’d. It’s not the same if AI is just telling me, because amongst the fire hose of communication and documentation flying at me, AI is just another one. Writing it myself forces me to actually engage, even if only a little more than at a shallow level.
Do you only work on projects individually? Without project-specific environments I don’t know how you could share code with someone else without frequent breakages.
Meanwhile in much of the USA registration laws aren't enforced. The last time my car was totaled (hit and run) the police didn't even show up for that either so my insurance company just ate the whole cost. DUI laws themselves are largely only enforced to the extent the accused consents to bothering to show up to court.
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