AI

It is such an interesting time to be a computer science student. In the last year AI has become undoubtably revolutionary in the programming world. I would be lying if I said that it’s power didn’t scare me. There is such much to talk about with in this topic, but I will start by saying that I am glad that AI popped up towards the end of my CS degree, rather than in the beginning. While it is so convenient from a learning perspective, where I might have spent hours trying to find an obscure answer on stack overflow there is the possibility of getting it almost instantly now with a tool like ChatGTP. However it also makes it all too easy to become dependent on it. I wonder that if I had started my CS program with such a powerful tool, I would not have developed the skill and resilience to grind for my answers.

Someone once told me being a good programmer you just have to be good at googling things, which is a very vague statement but I understood what he meant. He meant that you have to be willing to grind for your answers when you are blocked: stack overflow, official documentation, youtube videos, whatever it takes to learn. A problem with ChatGTP is that you no longer (or at least much less) have to exercise this skill to the same degree, and if you had ChatGTP from the very beginning maybe you never would have developed this skill at all. And to a further point, what is even the point of consolidating information about a technology or even programming in your brain when you know you can get it in a flash at any time with AI. This idea would lead to less skilled, highly dependent programmers who don’t have deep and solid understandings of the technologies they are working with, there is no shortcut for achieving this. However, I also have to admit that AI can be an amazing tool for learning. Sometimes even with an in person tutor, one can be embarrassed or pressed for time to keep asking questions about things they might not understand, but not with ChatGTP. I can ask follow up questions forever, and even ask for the responses to be simpler or more basic if I am really struggling. I can ask for metaphors, examples, and anything my mind can think of, at any time. I have had several a-ha moments with ChatGTP on concepts my book and class material could not explain to me in a way I understand.

Of course AI tools have their limits, so it is important to take everything with a grain of salt and use other resources as well, but on the whole AI has been a fantastic tool for studying and I would say that it has made me a better programmer. This is why it can be tricky to draw a line with AI tools. However, I am focused on being the best programmer I can be. I want to be knowledgable, educated, and not dependent on AI, because ultimately why would someone hire me if AI can do the job for me?