Pretty useful for software engineering, particularly helpful in writing a test suite, you still need to actually check the output though ofc

Also made use of it for writing my end of year review to solve the blank page problem, I find it a lot easier to edit down than starting HR stuff like that entirely from scratch

I used AI to generate random fake data to use in training on Excel , also to understand various concepts in my feild of study and to answer my sudden random questions

I don’t use AI for productive work, for the same reasons I don’t stir my soup with a dishrag.

Pretty good for recipes, tho’.

I think ChatGPT and other Ai can be a fantastic tool if you use it responsibly. It’s a great help for learning and practicing things. I’ve very recently made my first server and it’s great at answering all my simple questions that I sometimes feel hesitant to bother people with, and little things like that. Sometimes I’ll ask it to give me a simple kind of structure or bullet point list of topics I need to make sure to hit in my writing, or weirdly enough it’s pretty good at helping me with substitutions in recipes, or other little things like that. And I personally think that all of this is fine.

But I’m entirely against using it to create any kind of final product. Having it do any kind of actual final work is just stupid and lazy. I truly don’t think Ai is capable of making anything that’s worth peoples time really, and in the amount of time you’ll spend meticulously explaining everything that you want or need for whatever it is you have it generating for you, you could’ve just made it yourself and done a far better job. That’s where I draw the line. I don’t think Ai has to be inherently evil or anything because it can be a great tool, but you can’t rely on it to actually do things for you. Maybe others will disagree me I know many people especially in Fediverse circles are very very strongly anti Ai in all facets but that’s just my thoughts.

58 comments? Meh I will put this in LLM and have it summarise it in bullet points.

Much as I dislike praising AI, I must admit I got some good results using an AI powered search engine for academic articles to find sources for a term paper I’m writing for a seminar class I’m taking for my masters degree.

I use it to outline and layout big documents and reports. I give it a list of tasks I did and it writes the long-form text in the approved style. I use it anytime I need to translate my thoughts or process into corporate jargon. And occasionally my bosses ask me for a report on something totally unrelated to what we are doing and I’ll ask GPT to do the first pass on the topic and then come I’ll back and re-write it iteratively as I figure out what part of the topic the boss really cares about.

I have used it as a nicer version of web search, mostly for “How do I write code using this library I’m not yet familiar with?” It provides passable tutorials when the library’s documentation is sparse (I get it) or poorly written (they tried 🤷‍♂️).

Messed around for a while and then nothing. Not sure if I’m being AI-averse but i really can’t find good use for it.

No. I have never and do not use AI in my art and never will

Search (with some double checking), rough drafting and frameworks, templates, and scripting.

Really worth listening to this podcast as well. It’s a guy teaching corporate teams to make best use of AI. He goes over how to use it to get really great use by using it as a discussion rather than just asking it a question and expecting and accurate answer in the first instance

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2024/02/19/yanss-281-how-a-pernicious-cognitive-bias-limits-our-ability-to-use-chatbots-properly-and-to-overcome-it/

AI has been most useful for tech support for me. I wouldn’t have been able to switch to Linux completely if AI didn’t instantly find solutions for me, rather than being told by the community to read tomes of documentation.

I also use it a lot to find how to get office apps to do what I want.

I’m famous at work for being a poet, when I actually just ask AI to write a short witty poem.

You can use image generators to make nice personalised cards to share on special events.

AI can make mind maps and things like that if you tell it what you want.

Absolutely. I’ve used it to write basic scripts that I didn’t feel like spending time on. I’ve also used it to write cover letters. I always make sure to peruse through it to see what it did and make sure it works or sounds right.

I basically use it on rare rare occasion to help get me “unstuck” with creative tasks, I don’t really use what it produces in the end, I wind up dismantling it entirely and rewriting it “properly” but it has a use you know?

Used it as a toy for the longest time but by now I had to do a lot of coding and I was actually able to make good use of code completion AI.

Saved me about a quarter of my time. Definitely worth something. (FYI I use supermaven free tier).

Also I’m using ChatGPT to ask dumb questions because that way I don’t have to constantly interrupt other people. And also as a starting point to research something. I usually start with ChatGPT, then Google specific jargon and depending on the depth of the topic I will read either studies, articles or forum threads afterwards.

It did take me a long time to figure out which AI and when to use it, so mandating this onto the entire government is a gong show more than anything.

No AI is not useless, but it’s always a very specific use case.

If you’re interested, I suggest using the free ChatGPT version to ask dumb questions together with Google to get a feel for what you get. Then you can better decide if it’s worth it for you.