The first time I used ChatGPT, I was not really impressed. This was well into the height of AI’s popularity. It just seemed like a worse Google. The results seemed limited, took a long time to obtain, and often (to me) appeared wrong. I had become accustomed to using web searches and quickly browsing and identifying which link would serve me needs. This was a skill that had been unknowingly developed over years of experience. However, AI tools are not web searches, so my approach of treating them like web searches was imperfect.
After that first poor trial, I did not touch AI tools again for a few months until I came across a confusing piece of code someone had written regarding authentication. I tried my regular google searches to determine the fit and purpose of the code, but could not find an adequate resolution on forum posts or documentation. This was what led me to my next experience with ChatGPT. The initial attempts were as fruitless as the google searches, but through trial and error, I was able to construct the prompt needed, which differed from how I would traditionally use a web search. Now, the results did not provide the exact answer, but they offered possibilities and acted as a guide for what I should look into next. It almost felt like pair programming.
The project I currently working on contains a lot of code using unfamiliar technologies and is written by somebody else. Using AI technology like Chat GPT on code that I find confusing has helped streamline my learning process. Even though the programmer who originally wrote the code is not present, I am able to better figure out his logic at certain points and focus on the parts that are most relevant to me. This greatly helps save time and mental effort by reducing roadblocks. I think this way of using AI technology as a partner or a teacher is perhaps one of its best uses. There are however, some shortcomings that I actively need to account for. The first, as I have mentioned is that you need to enter the correct prompt. This takes experience in determining how words are interpreted. The next and bigger shortcoming is that sometimes the results are flat out wrong. That means its up to me to verify them by searching up resources and documentation. Thus, treating it as a guide rather than gospel is the best method of action. Overall, I’m interested to see how AI technology continues to progress and how it will be used in fields such as education.
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