In a digital landscape filled with AI generated content and ever-changing rules, the role of the engineer has shifted from creator to curator. In a sense, we're outsourcing the repetitive process to AI. But let's try to keep the creative process human, shall we?
Let me make one thing clear up front, I love AI and I love using it. It makes my life alot easier and it gives me the time to finish tasks more quickly, freeing my time up to to focus on reading about new tech or learning.
Some thoughts on AI
When working with AI, two things can happen:
- We become lazy and stop thinking critically.
- We stop learning and hand off too much without realising.
To try and mitigate this, I've set myself up with a set of rules:
- Only hand off boilerplate code to AI.
- Have learning conversations with AI, ask it questions, challenge yourself to learn new things.
- Don't autogenerate code for the sake of it.
I only generally use autogenerated code when its in a language i have little to no experience with, and i make sure i take the time to understand it before using it. I take it as a learning opportunity, and i get to see how AI approaches problems in different languages.
AI can be a great tool for learning and for automating repetitive tasks. It can also be a great tool for brainstorming and for generating new ideas. But use it wisely and dont follow it blindly. Keep thinking critically.
People are quick to say: "AI will take our jobs". I think this is a bit of a dramatic take. AI will change the way we work, but it wont take our jobs. It will free us up to focus on more important things, like creativity, learning and innovation.
People also forget that right now, alot of the AI we use is being curated to us by these large corporations at a price far below the actual cost of running the models. At one point in time, that will change, the bubble will burst and it will become interesting to see how the paradigm shifts.
Until then, inform yourself, keep learning and keep thinking for yourself.