AI at it's Finest!

21 Nov 2023

Introduction

When it comes to the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence), many people think that it’s cheating or a way of being lazy to do it on your own. Before I came into ICS 314, I’ve never used AI and I regretted not being able to use AI. I love using AI because it always gives me an idea or a different approach that I can take. Using AI in ICS 314 made me realized that any type of AI can help us learn and have an idea for our problem solving but sometimes AI can be wrong and not always right. I’ve used ChatGPT and GitHub Co-Pilot whixh they’ve been very useful for me.

Personal Experience with AI

Experience WODS : For Experience WODS I’ve never used AI for these type of assignments because it was always to do your best and see if you can do it on your own. Using AI was never really needed for these type of things because they would provide videos on what to do and to see if you can do better.
In-class Practice WODs : For in-class Practice WODs, I didn’t really use AI just because you had a lot of time to figure out on how you’re able to figure it out and also, you had a partner that you can talk too if you’re stuck. I would always try to use the skills that I know to try and solve the problem.
In-class WODs: For in-class WODs, I would use some AI depending on the problem. I admit that I did use Chat GPT and GitHub CoPilot which was very useful. Some of the WOD’s were straightforward and didn’t really need the use of AI but they can be helpful even though you already know how to solve the WODs. Some examples were Javascript that I would use AI sometimes but for HTML and CSS, it seemed straightforward and didn’t use AI.
Essays : When it comes to Essays, I’ve never used AI at all for essays. Essays are meant to share the world your expereiences and knowledge about a topic to talk about or “this” for example. I’ve never understand the use of AI for essays but personally for me, I’ve never had to use AI.
Final project : For this final project, I’m currently using AI which is ChatGPT and GitHub CoPilot. They’re very useful because a lot of times I get very confused and a lot of times I do have to search up stuff like different icons for example. AI is not meant to give you answers all the time because they can be wrong but it gives me ideas.
Learning a concept / tutorial : A lot of tutorials and learning a concept that we did for this class didn’t make me use AI. The tutortials and the learning gave me an understanding like the “FreeCodeCamp” that was provided for us. Using AI wasn’t necessary for tutorials.
Answering a question in class or in Discord : I’ve never used AI to answer a question in class or in Discord. If I don’t have the answer then I wouldn’t say anything but if I was to know the answer then I would answer the following question.
Asking or answering a smart-question : I would sometimes use google or maybe ChatGPT to ask a question but usually I never really had to. I would say using AI to answer your questions is very useful. Personally for me I would want to ask google or ChatGPT a question then if I don’t know the answer then I would ask the class.
Coding example e.g. “give an example of using Underscore .pluck” : For code examples I would use the internet on what it’s used for and used the underscore.js website to look up different alternatives I can use for underscore. I rarely would you use AI for this type of problem.
Explaining code : For explaining code, using AI like ChatGPT is a great way to explain what the code does and what does it include but some can be not so helpful. For example, GitHub CoPilot is a bit different because it prints out just the code which is helpful but doesn’t really explain code.
Writing code : For writing code, I would use GitHub CoPilot more than ChatGPT because ChatGPT isn’t always right. ChatGPT does explain the code which is a great useful source but it’s not reliable. For GitHub CoPilot, is a great AI for writing code for you which is very helpful whenever you’re stuck on a problem.
Documenting code : Documenting code can be both ways with understanding the problem but GitHub CoPilot is very useful when documenting code.
Quality assurance : This is problem the most helpful because whenever there is an error with the code “ESLint” can be very helpful which is a great way whenever you’re stuck with a code. There is no reason for use AI in this scenario.
Other uses in ICS 314 not listed : I didn’t use any other AI in my ICS 314 class except for ChatGPT and GitHub CoPilot but I’m very interesting in expanding all different versions of AI.

Impact on Learning and Understanding

So far during my AI journey in this class, it was very helpful although sometimes it can a bit complex and confusing. For example, whenever I tried to use ChatGPT, although it can be very helpful by telling you different alternatives or different ways that you can approach to your code it’s not always right. Using ChatGPT for me is a way of giving me ideas instead of giving me the answer. GitHub CoPilot is giving you ideas and the answer which I love but the downside about GitHub CoPilot is that it doesn’t explain what the code does which is kind of a bummer. I would say I was more likely to brain solve my code and the problems I had which is a great way for me to get better at coding which I ejoyed the most. I enjoyed getting challenged everytime.

Practical Applications

I believe everyone that is in the “coding” industry has used some type of AI. For example, I went to “meet tech professionals” during the semester and they have told me that they would use ChatGPT to give them an idea for there code and projects. They would use that information to give them ideas. I was a bit shocked but also interested because AI seems as if it’s a very useful source which it is to everyone and everywhere.

Challenges and Opportunities

Some challenges I would say for the use of AI is using GitHub CoPilot. I wouldn’t say ChatGPT just because I can use ChatGPT as a resource or useful information. For GitHub CoPilot, I’ve explained that it would give me just the answer with no explanation. When writing my code it would give me random input. It seemed as if GitHub CoPilot is guessing that’s what I want but most of the time it’s not what I want. It’s nice to have just in case it knows what I want and I can click ‘tab” to type it out for me. Using AI ca be challenging but AI can be also be resourceful.

Comparative Analysis

Between traditional teaching methods and AI-enhanced approaches I do believe that traditional teaching methods is a lot better and useful. The reason why is because you can’t really learn a lot from an AI. With teaching methods you can engage a lot with your classmates as well as learning a lot more than AI. AI is for people who wants to get ideas or different apporaches for your code and many other things.

Future Considerations

One thing about AI that I would say is that using AI isn’t a bad thing. It’s very useful and can help you in a lot of different ways. I would say there is a lot of areas for improvement for AI which in the future would be more advanced. One thing they can do for GitHub CoPilot is that after impleting a code they should explain what it does like ChatGPT. In the future, I know that AI will get better and better which I’m very excited about. Being able to use AI can help us be more open minded and to have more knowledge.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I do believe AI can be a good thing but also a bad thing. We all shouldn’t depend on AI but we should all depend in our knowledge with what we know. I use AI for good reasons which are helping me solve problems, being able to have different opportunities, and to be open minded with different alternatives with solving problems and being able to learn more about AI. AI should be open for the world and not kept in secret.