On using AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become ubiquitous, much to the chagrin of some and to the delight of others:

• some shun it completely, refusing to use it
• others treat its output as infallible and completely true

However, we have to remain mindful to it during its early years:

How to use AI

We could use AI to help us become better programmers (or developers or people) by:

• giving thoughtful prompts to automate language-specific tasks
  • i.e. without having to know a specific language beforehand
• analyzing the output in a critical fashion
  • thus increasing our knowledge of the fundamentals of a specific language or framework
• documenting the prompts and outputs for future reference
• reflecting upon the suitability and appropriateness of the outputs

By doing all this, we also continue to learn and flatten the learning curve! Failure to do any of the above, however, equates to laziness and a step backwards in the progress of development.

How not to use AI

Don't use AI like an idiot by:

• giving vague prompts and expecting a perfect result
• accepting the output as-is and not verifying its correctness and appropriateness
• doing nothing with the output and passing it off as original work