AI is this generation's Kryptonite
Hold off on the AI craze for the sanity of your Acquired Skills
Every generation has its kryptonite that spirals most of them into anxiety-laden, desperate attempts to hold onto their belongings. The skills acquired through incessant toiling and spending of borrowed currencies suddenly cease to be valid in the world. What next?
The folks of the 80s and 90s dealt with the onset of computerization of the common skilled jobs and the dot-com boom, respectively. Some came out at the business end of it with new skills, while some managed to hold onto their steady lives. The point is, we survive and thrive at the onset of every adversity. The latest one is just another chance to spin up some new inventions.
AI is here to stay, get comfortable
Stop fighting the change that is overcoming you and the world.
That is the mantra I keep humming to myself every day I wake up. A self-assurance or manifestation of the new me, if you will.
Is AI taking my job? Probably yes, definitely may be, surely no. The hype cycle that surrounds every new product dies down when the reality hits it. Everything sounds doable in the lab with the theory, within respectable parameters, but then the real world hits with a realization that practicality comes with unprecedented challenges. We, the human race, have learnt to deal with it through experience and continue to adapt, as needed. Machines can do it too, but they need to be spoon-fed the changes, and it becomes almost impossible to predict and reprogram in real-time.
AI is here to test our willingness to explore and build. I am wondering to myself whether I am comfortable going through such a test?
AI is getting rid of excuses
The question about not possessing enough knowledge to accomplish something was prominent in the world devoid of AI.
The barrier to acquiring new skills has never been lower in the history of humankind. I spent the last two days incorporating LLM into a test automation framework, which I may or may not even use, but the fact that I had fun doing it, all alone, largely with the help of a commercial LLM, is an amazing feeling.
I was able to set up Linux on my spare laptop, rice it up with some third-party libraries to make it my own, all with the help of Claude and GPT4. I might add some help from the Linux community, which is thriving.
For someone like me working in the software industry for more than a decade, I am more excited than ever to build things than I ever was while working in corporate IT.
Bringing back the early 2000s, I might as well tackle C++ again, maybe not that crazy.
AI is a supplement. Be careful, read the label
There is a reason why every new thing comes with a Warning!
There is a case for pessimism and with it a quiet caution when using these new AI products that claim to know-it-all. I have no doubt, the companies making these AI models have managed to get their hands on all the free and proprietary data to train their models, but with every highly intellectual being comes a fear of hallucination, seeing things that are really not there.
The hype men of social media will tell you that AI turns a layman into a software engineer and common folks into millionaires. Believe them, if you want to be scammed. I am tired to the point of exhaustion of seeing every marketing & sales person shove a new AI-driven product down my throat, but then wouldn't I do the same if my livelihood depended on it? I am not answering that question here.
I want to flex the building muscle, "look what I built in a fortnight! " messages across the web world, but then bullshitting never got anyone to the promised land, at least never managed to sustain it in the long run.
I spent a good amount of time and money studying the art of building software, and with AI now, I have a companion to bump ideas and build. In the process, I might be able to make something valuable.
Take Caution, Fall back on your expertise and skill, let AI be the gentle push.
Lastly, believe in your skills, let AI indulge your originality
Look, not everyone is going to build multi-million-dollar apps. Not everyone is going to change the world. But I am happy to build a home automation system that makes my life a little bit easier.
I am happy to tinker and learn, indulge my curiosity to the point of stumbling onto something useful.
I am going to let my imagination be in the driver's seat while using AI for navigation.
Let the social media age remind us that all the flashy new technology with endless promises always falters and gives way to control their user base, which is us.