My job has a high likelihood of being taken over by AI any time soon that I honestly don't mind jumping on the ranting bandwagon of AI critics.
However, I can't help but also highlight the good side of this bad beast.
AI has always been HOT when it comes to generating content. I guess this is where the love and hate mostly comes from.
I'm not comfortable letting AI write for me. I love writing, and I'm more of an emotional quality over quantity kind of writer. Besides, I don't earn a lot from this writing habit...
However I love that it can help me "smooth out" my tone, like when I'm...
Stuck with a client who forgets to pay me...
Normally I'd go beat around the bush like...
"Hi Ryan, it's been a while! I hope you're doing great. I'd like to ask if you remember about the invoice I sent last week" yada yada yada...
I'd stop myself mid sentence, breathe in the success of stopping my stupidity and paste the whole darn thing on ChatGPT:
Make this sound more diplomatic, but assertive. I really need him to pay, but I don't want to be pushy. Make it sound friendly, but not too friendly. I need him to decide to pay me right now but I don't want to sound impatient.
But I am impatient, and needy, and wanting to have the strength to be pushy...
But just like magic, the exact words I can't pull out of my gut is there. Copy, paste, voila! Groceries, here I come!
But it's not just communication...
Sure, AI has helped me find the best shopping options and skip beating around the bush for invoices, but the real power for me has always been accelerated learning.
My closest friends know that I'm a sucker for learning new things.
In fact 80% of the reason why I am very slow at designing websites is because I have an idea that hasn't been done before, and I am inventing ways to implement them.
When I get so obsessed with an idea, I hyperfixate on it until I get it done. Some see this as a symptom of ADHD. I see it as a toxic trait— a gift and a curse.
Learned Coding in 8 Hours?
That's inaccurate. I didn't exactly "learn how to code" from the very basics in one day...
But learning a new language or framework? What used to take me days was done in a few hours.
Yesterday I had an idea I had to implement. This was in a middle of a very tight deadline. And just as you'd expect from someone who's so passionate with an idea, I followed my urge and hoped for the best! 🤞
I was stuck between learning GSAP and Motion One .
I didn't have any experience on both.
I emerged 8 hours later having learned both.
Both animation libraries are powerful. One of them is more cost-efficient but a little complex to write. Take into account that I only have fundamental knowledge in Javascript, and I usually code in Vanilla JS.
If you don't know any of these, I'll spare you the jargon.
IN SHORT...
AI Helped Me Learn a New Skill in a Day
While most would tell AI to "generate a code" for them, it was important for me to understand it from the fundamentals.
It would be more efficient if I understand what I'd want AI to do for me, that way I can give clearer specifics and instructions and can actually help troubleshoot in case AI messes up (yes, they still need our help!)
"So what was the secret, then? Pfft! Everybody knows AI can answer questions," you might ask...
Secret sauce: I ask stupid questions.
Here's the thing. Prior to AI, we had Google. Prior to search engines, we had books and teachers. See the big leap?
A lot of us still approach AI like we do with search engines. We ask clear questions. Too clear because we were used to Google asking back "Did You Mean...?" and risk getting irrelevant results.
💡 BUT WE HAVE TO REMEMBER that AI is a huge step from a search engine. It doesn't rely on the search results as markers for relevance. It has improved how technology "understands" human language a hundredfold, if not a thousand.
In fact, step back a little to what we intuitively are used to: a teacher.
I'm not implying that AI is 100% accurate and is a good teacher, but if your questions are stupid enough, AI can significantly help accelerate your learning and research.
And take note... ⚠️ This is a teacher who thinks in milliseconds— one that you can pester to simplify and over-explain an idea 100 times in 100 ways for you to finally get it!
And so I started with the fundamentals
I believe in first principle learning, and while connecting new knowledge to what I already know has accelerated my learning, opting for documentation over blogs has helped train my brain to think more deeply.
I started with the front page of their website.
I scrolled through the site reading each of the features. Asking ChatGPT "What do they mean by this?" and associate it with my most basic related knowledge.
"Explain it to me like an 8 year old,"
And actually asking to drill down AI's answering a bit more:
"Do you mean that an API is like a toolbox and a Framework is like a few chosen tools specifically for building the roof?"
There's no harm in pestering AI
Unlike humans, AI can't be impatient.
Heck, I get impatient with AI sometimes. There were times when I just want to grab chatGPT by its imaginary hair out of frustration... and apologized later.
(seriously, let's normalize apologizing to AI, just in case!)
But AI doesn't have a meter that tells you they'd had enough of how stupid you are.
You have to understand that we lived in a century where we rapidly evolved from referencing books to asking machines. We still have our bookish habits and the hesitation to annoy teachers.
We now have the technology to be understood without human limits. A tool widely accessible to enhance our research and further our understanding. A technology we can "roleplay" with to be a panel of teachers that can help us see things in different perspectives.
Yet we still ask with great effort to be concise and with hesitation.
We should re-learn to ask like an 8 year old.
AI is not Accurate
It is constantly learning. It's not always right, its sources may not even be accurate. But human teachers were not always accurate too!
That's why a bit of human touch is still needed in order to research and verify. Platforms like Perplexity AI with fact checkers has made it the ideal study buddy, but at the end of the day your growth still depends on your grit and strength of intention.
AI can only take you so far. And thus your persistence on verifying and bantering with it while confirming from other sources is what gives it its strength.
After asking questions, I'd usually ask it to quiz me.
"Give me a scenario and I'll code it. Then break down my code and tell me how I can improve it" and when I find that it's feeding me wrong or lacking answers, I'd point it out.
"Oops, my bad. Good catch!" it'd respond. And this way I know my learning has become a bit better (or superior to chatgpt, I wish!)
Other Learning Paths
The other week I started studying some law fundamentals. Murphy's "What Makes Law" was the subject of my curiosity.
- I asked for the key ideas with explanation in table format
- I asked fundamental questions
- I generated 50 Anki flashcards with explanations (simplified like an 8 year old) after each answer
- I used the Feynman technique by explaining each answer in my own understanding
- I started to read the book after finishing 50 flashcards
- I had conversation with AI, asked questions, got quizzed
And I know this sequence is weird for some people. I reviewed 50 flashcards before reading the book because I see books more of a reference than a novel to read from cover to cover.
Every time I view a flashcard I have zero knowledge in, I do my research and pop up chatGPT, ask questions and verify. I learn faster this way.
I never read web documentations from top to bottom. I only refer to them and research as I go. This is another way to break another one of our "bookish habits".
Keep Learning
Time seems to slow down in the face of novelty.
When learning something new, moments feel more meaningful, and life feels more efficient. I often feel that each new thing I learn adds years to my life.
AI has been a catalyst to many of my new adventures. We might demonize it for the industries its currently disrupting, but it still holds a promise to make us think better and wiser.
That's if we use it to help us think, rather than think on our behalf.
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