AI has definitely improved my personal productivity when it comes to computer programming. I haven’t been successful asking it to write whole programs for me, but it has been fantastic for solving syntax problems in minutes that might otherwise take me hours to figure out. For example, I have data in xyz format and I need it in zyx format, please give me some example code that works. Or, I need to pass an argument to a function and does it need to be in quotes, parentheses, enclosed in ancient hieroglyphics or some random combination of these? In the past, I always started with a Google search on these questions, looking first for a blog post with examples, and failing that for a Stack Overflow post. At some point, I started using ChatGPT when those two options failed. Then I figured out I have access to a version of CoPilot through my employer and any data or code I supply is not going to be automatically broadcast to the world, so I have gradually been shifting to that. I just learned that CoPilot is really a version of ChatGPT. (The article I linked to mentions some other AIs I had not heard of yet, such as “Claude”.)

Then at some point, I started going to AI after blog posts but before Stack Overflow. This is about where I am now. For one thing, AI tends to listen to my question, understand what I am looking for and give me a relevant answer much more often than Stack Overflow. For another, it is much more polite than the dick heads and whining weenies on Stack Overflow. You know who you are. Thank you for your free service in the past, and if you want me to continue coming to you, you may want to at least learn some manners. You could start by asking an AI to analyze your posts and suggest ways to not be such a dick head.

I am not using AI for writing, because for me writing and thinking are two halves of the same coin, and I can’t farm out the thinking. The one exception to this is thank you notes and other social niceties – I have no interest in burning my limited intellectual capacity on learning how to write these, so I am very happy to have AI do it. I tried asking CoPilot to find me promo codes for a few stores, but none of them worked. I suspect the companies are paying for the same AI I am using for free, so it is probably snitching to them so I can’t get a deal.