Alvin Wu

Getting an A+ with AI

05 May 2024

I. Introduction

AI is a very interesting tool. It even feels like you are talking to a real person if you are using a Chatbot feature. Without a doubt, AI will be the future in this world. There are many different versions of AI like ChatGPT, Github Co-pilot, and a newer one Google AI. In ICS 314 I’ve got a chance to learn more about it because it’s the class I got to use it the most.

II. Personal Experience with AI:

I have used AI in class this semester in the following areas:

  1. Experience WODs e.g. E18: I’ve never had to use AI because I felt that there were already enough resources given to me to succeed.

  2. In-class Practice WODs: I’ve only used AI once or twice and that was when I didn’t have a partner or was doing self-practice. Most In-class WODs were with a partner so I.

  3. In-class WODs: I have used AI for almost all of these as the time limit for me was quite stressful. For the first Morning Brew WOD that we needed to make completely from scratch with HTML and CSS, I used ChatGPT and Co-pilot to make sure that I wouldn’t have to stare at code when it was broken.

  4. Essays: I did not use AI for this because I felt that Essays needed to feel “human”.

  5. Final project: a few times, Mainly for concepts like Javascript underscore or other backend components. It didn’t really help with ESlint errors

  6. Learning a concept/tutorial: A few amount of times, prior to ICS 314 I had very little experience with javascript so I has AI explain what a line meant.

  7. Answering a question in class or in Discord: I did not use AI for this.

  8. Asking or answering a smart-question: I did not use AI for this.

  9. Coding example e.g. “give an example of using Underscore .pluck”: I would not use AI to give me an example rather instead give me an answer to a problem.

  10. Explaining code: I’ve had AI used a few times and this kind of goes hand in hand with point #7 when I was learning something completely new I would ask AI to explain what each line means.

  11. Writing code: I have used plugins like Github Co-pilot to give me suggestions. It’ll write the code and if I press TAB it’ll print it. When it’s right it can be a time saver.

  12. Documenting code: I did not use AI for this as I was unaware it had this kind of feature.

  13. Quality assurance: I use this the most and this is probably where I had the most amount of success with AI. Most times it would be after I “finished” and then run it through to check. It was just fixing/cleaning up any bugs that may take someone a good amount of minutes even with a good eye.

  14. Other uses in ICS 314 not listed above: Every use of AI I have listed above.

III. Impact on Learning and Understanding:

Many people including myself believe that ChatGPT is both good and bad for education. Why? well, ChatGPT is not a real person for one, one of the big components of education is learning from a real person with experience, empathy, and ethics. Are we sure that AI has all of these qualities? I don’t know. However, ChatGPT does have information, and in my honest experience, the majority of the time (greater than 50%) it’s correct. I feel with time, it will approach 100%.

IV. Practical Applications:

In 314, the main use of AI is to help code. There’s even a plugin on the IDE we use specifically made for programming, I’m not sure if any other fields of study have this kind of support except for maybe mathematics with calculators. When AI gives me suggestions it can save a lot of time and energy and to those who pay extra, can get a chatbot feature to explain the line of code which helps you learn a lot.

V. Challenges and Opportunities:

As I said in my intro, I do believe that AI will be our future whether we like it or not. Personally, I am a little more on the worried side than the confident side only because it has a possibility to take my job. Currently speaking, AI is also being debated on whether it’s healthy for the learning environment because it can and will just give wrong answers, or even if it’s right it won’t explain clearly why, which is very important to people know nothing and need explanations.

VI. Comparative Analysis:

If I had to compare the classic student and teacher method with AI, I’d take the teacher mainly because the teacher is right 90% rather than over 50% which can be different for everyone. I do think AI can be more convenient than people because for people, you perhaps need to schedule an appointment, go meet the person, and depending on people being people, your experience can vary. I found that AI while it is incorrect more times than people the experience tends to be more consistent. Treat AI like a tool, not a partner.

VII. Future Considerations:

I want AI to be better. I feel as AI improves, we’ll see it expand into many other fields. I wouldn’t be shocked to see AI saving lives in the next decade or so. As of right now, AI is just that tool to use when you don’t have any human resources available at the moment which is very useful don’t get me wrong but I would like to see AI reach its full potential.

VIII. Conclusion:

AI is fun, maybe we can learn more from it than it can from us. I mean it’s not going to leave no matter if you hate it or not so we might as well make the most of the situation. In ICS 314, it has been tremendously useful, I’ve learned new concepts and had details explained to me that I had missed in class. After weighing all the pros and cons I would say it’s more useful than it is harmful. Using AI definitely has a skillset and knowing whether what you got is right or wrong is key to success.