this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

AI is helping me learn and program C++. It's built into my IDE. Much more efficient than searching stackoverflow. Whenever it comes up with something I've never seen before, I learn what that thing does and mentally store it away for future use. As time goes on, I'm relying on it less and less. But right now it's amazing. It's like having a tutor right there with you who you can ask questions anytime, 24/7.

I hope a point comes where my kid can just talk to a computer, tell it the specifics of the program he wants to create, and have the computer just program the entire thing. That's the future we are headed towards. Ordinary folks being able to create software.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I’ll agree there’s huge potential for ‘assistant’ roles (exactly like you’re using) to give a concise summary for quick understanding. But LLMs aren’t knowledgeable like an accredited professor or tutor is, understanding the context and nuance of the topic. LLMs are very good at scraping together data and presenting the shallowest of information, but their limits get exposed quickly when you try to go into a topic.

For instance, I was working a project that required very long term storage (+10 years) with intermittent exposure to open air, and was concerned about oxidation and rust. ChatGPT was very adamant that desiccant alone was sufficient (wrong) and that VCI packs would last (also wrong). It did a great job of repackaging corporate ad-copy and industrial white papers written by humans, but not of providing an objective answer to a semi complex question.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

I guess it's not great for things requiring domain knowledge. Programming seems to be easy for it, as programs are very structured, predictable, and logical. That's where its pattern-matching-and-prediction abilities shine.