4 ms·

Given the way things are going, not knowing how to use AI will be like coming out not knowing about revision control

by ivankelly 6mo ago

maplethorpe 6mo ago
Isn't the selling point of AI that it does it for you? What's to learn?
- lacy_tinpot 6mo ago
  If the AI does it for you, you need to still learn what to do. What is the "it" that AI does for you? This is assuming you know how to get good work out of AI in the first place. But even that is turning out to be a skill in and of itself.
- Levitz 6mo ago
  "It does X for you" is the point of many technologies. You still require knowledge to work around it. Context helps immensely, for example. Think of what you can do that someone outside tech can't.
  - strogonoff 6mo ago
    The “it does X for you” aspect of technology is not completely without its downsides, for various values of X. For example, take “X” to be “walking”. Do we have the technology that allows us to pretty much never have to walk? Sure. As far as I am aware, though, we do not generally favour a lifestyle of being bound to a mobility aid by choice, and in fact we have found that not walking when able in the long run creates substantial well-being issues for a human. (Now, we have found ways to alleviate some of those issues for those who aren’t able, but clearly it is not sufficient because we still walk.) The problem is exacerbated immensely as the value of X approaches something as fundamental to one’s humanity as “thinking”.
  - Moonye666 6mo ago
    [flagged]
  - maplethorpe 6mo ago
    > "It does X for you" is the point of many technologies. You still require knowledge to work around it. When running water replaced the need to pump water out of the ground yourself, were people urged to "learn faucets"? You kind of just need to twist a knob and water comes out, right? Maybe there was an intermediary stage where running water was slightly more complicated and there were more steps to learn, but devoting time to learning those steps would have been a waste of time, since the end goal of the system was for it to function without much input.
- ivankelly 6mo ago
  There’s a big difference between using AI well and using it badly. Judgement is what needs to be learnt
mekael 6mo ago
I think you’re missing the /s.
- ivankelly 6mo ago
  Not at all. It’s a tool. It can be used well and it can be used badly, the difference often being others things thought in a CS curriculum. But a well trained engineer using the tool will be more productive than that engineer doing everything by hand, so leaving that tool out of the curriculum is doing a disservice to the students
lionkor 6mo ago
Weaponized FOMO to drive everyone to use AI isn't really a great idea

Given the way things are going, not knowing how to use AI will be like coming out not knowing about revision control

maplethorpe 6mo ago

Isn't the selling point of AI that it does it for you? What's to learn?

lacy_tinpot 6mo ago
If the AI does it for you, you need to still learn what to do. What is the "it" that AI does for you? This is assuming you know how to get good work out of AI in the first place. But even that is turning out to be a skill in and of itself.
Levitz 6mo ago
"It does X for you" is the point of many technologies. You still require knowledge to work around it. Context helps immensely, for example. Think of what you can do that someone outside tech can't.
- strogonoff 6mo ago
  The “it does X for you” aspect of technology is not completely without its downsides, for various values of X. For example, take “X” to be “walking”. Do we have the technology that allows us to pretty much never have to walk? Sure. As far as I am aware, though, we do not generally favour a lifestyle of being bound to a mobility aid by choice, and in fact we have found that not walking when able in the long run creates substantial well-being issues for a human. (Now, we have found ways to alleviate some of those issues for those who aren’t able, but clearly it is not sufficient because we still walk.) The problem is exacerbated immensely as the value of X approaches something as fundamental to one’s humanity as “thinking”.
- Moonye666 6mo ago
  [flagged]
- maplethorpe 6mo ago
  > "It does X for you" is the point of many technologies. You still require knowledge to work around it. When running water replaced the need to pump water out of the ground yourself, were people urged to "learn faucets"? You kind of just need to twist a knob and water comes out, right? Maybe there was an intermediary stage where running water was slightly more complicated and there were more steps to learn, but devoting time to learning those steps would have been a waste of time, since the end goal of the system was for it to function without much input.
ivankelly 6mo ago
There’s a big difference between using AI well and using it badly. Judgement is what needs to be learnt

mekael 6mo ago

I think you’re missing the /s.

ivankelly 6mo ago
Not at all. It’s a tool. It can be used well and it can be used badly, the difference often being others things thought in a CS curriculum. But a well trained engineer using the tool will be more productive than that engineer doing everything by hand, so leaving that tool out of the curriculum is doing a disservice to the students

lionkor 6mo ago

Weaponized FOMO to drive everyone to use AI isn't really a great idea