How often do you use AI? [i.e. ChatGPT / Grok]

[307]

Completely agree on the DIY expansion due to YT and now AI. It's incredible how much more I can do for myself due to these resources.

As far as the value of "old timers", many of them (including me) are making crap up as they go and passing it off as fact. The value of human experience is still valuable in many areas but information gatekeeping is not one of them.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Completely agree on the DIY expansion due to YT and now AI. It's incredible how much more I can do for myself due to these resources.

As far as the value of "old timers", many of them (including me) are making crap up as they go and passing it off as fact. The value of human experience is still valuable in many areas but information gatekeeping is not one of them.

Right. The problem is when the AI or internet is not available your average person won’t be capable of figuring anything out on their own. If the human mind is nursed on artificial “milk” it won’t know how to find food for itself when its digital mother is unavailable.

Worst case scenario, we become absolutely dependent on AI and China or some other adversary of the US takes down our internet and we’re all screwed because no one knows how to do anything anymore without asking AI. The smart phone has already shown this pattern. Take away someone’s phone calculator and then ask them to do some basic mental math. Ask someone to drive without a navigation system and they can’t navigate on their own. People don’t even have a road atlas in their car anymore.

I realize my “worst case scenario “ is probably a bit far fetched but we see the same thing in lesser degrees already happening.

 

[Westslope406]

As a college instructor, I’ve had students use AI quite a bit ( not exactly using it in the best way) but usually easy to catch.

Always be weary of what you put into this AI systems. Many use input to train algorithms, so that’s why they are wrong often.
Be careful with sensitive information as that gets logged and used to train also .
There are a few platforms that do not use input for training.

 

[dreamingWest]

I've been playing with it for the last few months so I don't get left behind. At first I was impressed, lately I'm surprised at how many errors are stated as fact. (Google AI, Grok, and ChatGPT).

 

[supersonic_g&t]

Here's a good example from yesterday about AI being wrong with confidence!

 

[supersonic_g&t]

Most days I use it for cleaning up emails. Pretty easy to write what I need to say and then prompt it to "clean this up for a business email."

Great for coding too. Stackoverflow used to be the place to go if you needed some ideas, but now everyone just uses AI.

Part numbers used to be pretty frustrating, especially for something like dryers where most manufacturers use the same components but give them different numbers. AI will give you a list of all the part numbers that will work.

 

[dreamingWest]

So far my best uses have been:
1. Learning to maintain a new saltwater pool in the most efficient way possible.
2. Making text messages to my wife read as if written by an 18th century explorer.

 

[Anschutz]

I use AI a bit at work but mainly use Claude models for specific things that I know generally where to find. I always confirm the output but if it can tell me where to go immediately it can save me 10 minutes to an hour of searching 1000s of pages and tables. I've used it for some stuff personally. I've played little games (i.e. I'm a gun shop owner, it's a customer), I've researched vehicle modifications, I've uploaded public land hunting guidelines to toe the line and help keep folks from crossing the line. It's useful, sometimes fun but I'm not glued to it.