Two can play that game
My hypothesis is that you are invested in the success of AI products somehow, financially or emotionally, and that leads you to be blind to their shortcomings
You keep using them whenever possible because you want them to be useful even though in reality their usefulness is really iffy
So - we are at an impasse. Both suspect the other of motivated reasoning and an internal bias that distorts their ability for rational thinking.
It's entirely possible we're both irrational to some degree. But that's irrelevant to answering the question at hand.
Do you claim you are using it regularly and in good faith - enough to honestly form a reliable view on its utility?
I would claim that I am using it in such a way. It would take more effort than I'm prepared to put in to provide evidence of this but please - ask away.
(for the record - I have no financial or professional involvement directly with AI. I simply find the technology fascinating and I use it daily - both playfully and for it's practical utility)
I think I have used it in good faith. A few months ago I was part of a small team at my company tasked to evaluate AI solutions like copilot to see if they are useful to us and could speed development and such
For a couple of week tryout period I tried to use it in my daily workflow pretty heavily. I came away with the impression that it is a neat toy, but not really ready to be a full time tool for me. The other evaluators agreed and our recommendation to our leadership was "This is not really ready for prime time and while it is impressive it probably isn't really worth the cost"
Anyways fast forward and we're getting AI usage OKRs now, being pushed down on us by non-technical leadership, and what I call "formerly technical" leadership. People who did tech 20 years ago but really don't know what working modern tech is like since they've been in management for too long
So yes. I'm definitely negatively biased, and I'm fine to admit that. I absolutely resent having this stuff forced down on me from leaders that are buying the hype despite being told it is probably not ready to be a daily driver
And I'm seeing the hype spreading through the company, being told by junior devs how amazing it is when I am still iffy on their abilities.
And the absolute worst is when I build a cool proof of concept in an afternoon and everyone is like "wow, AI let you do that so fast now!" and I'm like no, this is just what a good developer can build quickly
So yeah, I'm pretty negative on AI right now. I can still admit the tech itself is impressive, amazing even, and there is no doubt in my mind I could probably find some use for it daily
But I think it is going to be a disaster, because people cannot be trusted to use it responsibly
The social impact is going to be absolutely catastrophic. In some ways it already is
Edit: I am also not really sure why I am supposed to be enthusiastic about technology that business leaders are fairly transparently hoping will make my skillset redundant or at best will make me more productive but I will never realistically see a single extra dollar from the increased productivity
This makes a lot of sense. But to be honest it feels more like a story about the pathology of hierarchical organisations than anything about AI.
I mostly work solo. I use AI when it's either a) interesting or b); useful. Our experiences are very different and it's no wonder our emotional responses are also very different.
Fair enough
I'm envious that you work solo. I think that would change my perspective on a lot of things
Thanks for the good faith discussion, anyways