AI Without Shame

Introduction

I won't lie, I use AI sometimes when I am coding. But I don't depend on it to code, it is more of a reference sheet for when I forget how things work or I have questions on whether I can improve how I am handling a situation.

I used to be anti-AI, as I would read articles about people becoming too dependent on AI and forgetting basic syntax or vibe coders creating apps with open databases that're leaking information all over the place. I wouldn't even use it in my everyday life for fear of it fabricating information and making a fool out of me.

But I slowly started to use it when working on a side projects, and I wanted to test the waters. I definitely had my ups and downs with it making up code where I spent an hour or two refactoring my code, thinking I made the mistake, but to realise it was the code AI provided was wrong the whole time. But after using it more, I feel more adventurous on my coding journey, taking on more complex projects and asking the dumb questions I would probably be put down for on Stack Overflow.

So, in this blog, I wanted to show people who don't use AI or use it a very limited amount, that it's ok to use AI without shame.

Using AI

When I use AI, I don't just copy and paste from it, hoping it works and forget it. I normally ask questions that give it all the information it needs to help me with a task. I ask it to give me some options with their pros and cons, and when I review the code, I question it whether these methods are common practices or if I don't understand something, I get it to deep dive into how that piece of code works. I sometimes even try to visualise the idea back to the AI of the process to make sure I understood the concept, as sometimes i'm a bit off and the AI corrects me and explains using my visual concepts.

Using AI to learn or understand topics has helped me be more confident when researching a topic, and it's ok if you feel overwhelmed when looking up information, as the AI can break it down and explain each piece in detail. I could barely write an API endpoint last year, to now I have hosted a VPS (Virtual Private Server) that allows users to upload media files to an AWS bucket for an event.

It's not only coding that AI comes in handy. I love to cook and sometimes bake, sometimes when I am cooking, I have fewer ingredients than I thought and need to think fast. Yes, I could look up websites, but that can take 5 - 10 minutes to find the right information. But with AI, I can explain my situation and ask for substitutes and why to pick this ingredient over another. It is also helpful to explain what each spice does to the meal and how I can alter it to suit my family's tastes.

A big one for me that makes AI helpful in my everyday life is using tools like Grammarly. As I am someone with dyslexia, I sometimes have a hard time writing write-ups or even blogs. But with an AI reviewing my text and understanding what I was trying to say, it helps me to be more confident that I will make mistakes, but that having something check for poor grammar or spelling mistakes allows me to encourage more people to try coding.

Vibe coding

The big scary topic that has very mixed feelings around it all over the internet, "Vibe coding". I'll admit it's not my cup of tea, as I enjoy the process of coding, where you get that rush when you get something to work after 50 bugs and 5 crashes. The vibe coding I am talking about is when someone generates code using AI and doesn't review the code and ships it to production. I have mixed feelings about it, but I feel it's not all negative.

I love watching when people come up with ideas for a project or a product, but have a fear or just don't want to learn how to code. As they can generate the idea using AI, and by the end of the day or a few days, they can have a working project to present. My problem is that they take that and ship it. I am not a huge fan of that, as if that application has sensitive data, that is an accident waiting to happen.

I believe generating the main part of the app with AI is fine, it probably won't be performant and will likely crash a lot, but handling users' information is a topic I feel needs a developer to handle, as it's like playing with fire, as you never know what AI could set up.

I rarely vibe code, I actually use it to draft out an idea to check if it's doable or to see do I like the look of a concept in my head. This is a way I believe vibe coding can be very helpful, you can generate your ideas into a throwaway project or even a brief to show the client how it could look.

Vibe coding doesn't need to be looked down on. It could convince more people to try to learn how to code and create amazing applications. I watched this lovely video on YouTube of a YouTuber creating an application that gave me a different proceptive on how I view vibe coding.

They’re lying to you about Vibe Coding by Sara Dietschy

Negatives

Where there are positives, there are always negatives. I can't count the number of times AI has provided me with incorrect code, from giving me outdated code or even code that doesn't even make sense. Make sure to double-check the code if you don't understand it, or get it to explain it and ask for the sources from where it got this code.

Generating images is really hit or miss. As someone who does graphic design, I sometimes need to generate ideas before I start working on something and give the AIs a brief drawing of my ideas, and I get them to generate drafts so I can see how they look. This can be a mess, as it can half the time do half the work or even add things you didn't ask for. And when you try to alter an image, it slowly gets worse and worse.

Sometimes it can give you fake confidence that when you try to do a task, you become blank-minded, as you were too dependent on it. It is making company owners remove developers from companies, as they have convinced themselves that AI can do all the work and that fewer developers are needed, making some lose their jobs, and the ones left behind are to pick up the slack from the messy AI code.

It is good at basic and small tasks, but once your project gets big, the AI starts to summarise your chats, and you start to lose information that connects all the pieces. This is where the AI starts to cause problems or leave out important information, leading to bugs or crashes. We are also starting to hear some research about AI slowing down developers, making them less productive as they have to keep cleaning up AI's messy code.

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, AI isn't this big, scary thing that can't code and its ok to use it. It is a tool to use with caution and to take everything it says with a grain of salt. It's not going anywhere anytime soon, so use it to your advantage to improve your skills or draft out some ideas. I ask you to give it another try, and I hope it makes you more productive in your day-to-day life.