Declaration of AI Usage

I think it’s safe to say that programming hasn’t been this challenged in years. While AI is definitely a chance to revolutionize the way we live (and develop, for that matter), it’s also fair to say that - while AI is a great technology - it couldn’t have come at a worse time. I sympathize with the people which speak out against the environmental impact of AI data centers.

Although I have to admit, I also use AI for tasks that it wasn’t really designed for or which I am just lazy to do myself. I try to be mindful of this, but I’m probably in the worst possible group - people who knowingly do wrong and do it anyway.

“I’m falling behind if I don’t use it”; I hear the excuse a lot at work, which is understandable because a lot of people tell you it’s like this. “10 tips to help you be AI-accelerated”, “Use this tool or you’re falling behind” and stuff like that are probably videos that exist on Youtube. Don’t get me wrong, Youtube is a great resource, but I feel burnt out by AI. I myself have found thinking I’m falling behind. While it’s somewhat true that you can’t be as productive by yourself as people using AI, it’s the same thing as saying “If I don’t fly someone else will just fly instead of me”. If nobody thought like this, we would be in a much better place than we are now. The job market is the most competitive as it’s ever been, which gives this excuse more truth than it may deserve. Most people want to secure their job, and AI is an easy way to do that. But it’s possibly destroying our planet - and more importantly - it’s definitely affecting us negatively.

What’s probably most depressing is that most people have lost the love of programming due to AI. It’s just not as satisfying. This might sound absurd, but AI is kinda like masturbating: it gives you a short dopamine boost, but over the long term you get screwed by it. And I’m probably not the first to say that (I don’t know who said it, so can’t give an accurate citation).

Which brings me to my main point: Why am I writing a declaration of AI usage?
I want to escape the feeling of being “forced” to use AI. I can write this blog without having any concerns about performance or how fast I have to do it. I can take my time and enjoy the process of manual CSS designing. I love the process. But I also want to hold myself accountable and remember why I started this in the first place.

My goal for the blog is:

  1. All my thoughts are my own and are written by myself
  2. I can use AI to check for grammatical errors or to rewrite parts of a sentence to better adhere to the English language
  3. AI is only used for debugging if I haven’t found the problem via Googling
  4. I won’t use AI to generate images (Although admittedly, I have used AI to generate the ASCII logo)

I think the internet (and life - sadly) has been kinda ruined by corporations and their platforms. I want to counteract this by creating my own little place here on the internet and share stuff.

If you find this and you like it, Thank you for taking the time.
If you find this and don’t like it, Thanks for checking it out anyways!
If you didn’t find this, that’s also okay.

I think we need to remind ourselves to slow down from time to time and give ourselves room to breathe. Life is already complicated, let’s not make it harder than it has to be.

~ C0RR1T