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Don't paste the AI, please

dontpastetheai.com

521–530 of 632 posts

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#522
post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentially I also hate if someone answers with a voice message. I can understand that there are situations where you just can't type out the answer and those exceptions are of course fine, but if you post a voice message or god forbid a video message in a group chat you are forcing everyone to take the time and sit through it.

Same here. I sometimes dont feel like typing but I use voice dictation, that should be the first option in a text convo imo.

I use dictation a lot and god it’s so bad. I have to correct something every single time.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#523

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=do+people+say+google+it+yourself Thanks for reminding me of lmgtfy. We used to say that all the time 20 years ago, and it was way politer than how the people older than us spoke. It took some getting used to, but I really miss the hilariously mean bluntness of the IT/tech world. In retrospect, I think it was just a bunch of people who grew up breathing in leaded gas fumes, with undiagnosed menta…

Absolutely revisionist history. That was never an acceptable thing to do outside of light hearted joking. You’d do that to a colleague or someone asking for help in earnest? It’s a deliberate, rude act that is aggressively proclaiming “how dare you waste my time.“ God help you if you ever ask a question you could’ve looked up yourself, because of course you never do that right? You always make sure to engage in rigor…

Deliberate rude acts were very common in my first few jobs. I distinctly remember multiple directors asking people "Are you a fucking moron?", and much worse. This was both at small companies and fortune 200s. The rude cranky IT guy is a trope for a reason. Learning to return the hostility, while proving that you do indeed know what you're talking about, was a rite of passage.

I almost just said it was like working with The Sopranos or Dr House, but now that I think about it maybe that's because I was in Jersey?

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many cases someone else already knows the answer and your interruption of them is less time lost for the company than you looking up the answer.

Unless the organisation is on the brink of collapse there is valuable learning and understanding in honestly attempting the research. If nothing else one gets a bit more knowledge on how to research the topic, although some knowledge of the state of the field is hard to avoid if you're so new to it that it's resource intensive to research. For the company it would probably pay off better (over time) to let the people…

Sometimes. However there are a lot of things that I know that are not worth your time to know. Somebody else in the company should also become an expert (for bus factor reasons), but it isn't what the company does and so spending time going deep on that topic isn't worth it.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#525

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your customers or colleagues are asking questions answered by your documentation, it's often a good sign your documentation has some challenges: dense; intimidating; inaccessible; or not easy to search for the specific information you want. Take this valuable signal as a gift, letting you know there is an opportunity to improve the documentation. You could become known as a helpful person, rather than a maybe-effi…

So how exactly are you supposed to distinguish needing to improve the documentation from the fact that half the population—through no fault of their own—might be fundemenetally incapable of understanding the documentation? You can only polish something so much. Without a limiting principle this becomes unfalsifiable and an endless time sink.

As a general rule you cannot get a job working in my area without fluency in English. Probably the majority of the people who work with my code have English as a second language (I work with people in Germany, India, Mexico, and Brazil that I know of), but English is a requirement to work with my area. There are probably people in sales and support areas who don't speak English, but if they need to work with me they need a translator. (I'm lucky to be a native English speaker, but there is no reason I couldn't learn a different language)

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not hate you :) I think you will probably have more positive interactions on the internet if you choose a different register to communicate in but I promise I do not actually care

ha! i like the negativity since the anonymous thing frees me to be me i hate being civil!

Whats the worst that could happen if you read GP’s words in a positive bias? Best case you learn something, made a friend, amd trained yourself to look for useful feedback in the future. Worst case you improved your mood and moved on.

You’re in the prison of your own devise, the negative bias.

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#527

The complaint here is about lazy answers. But what about all the lazy questions? What's the equivalent of "Google it yourself" these days? When you ask something of somebody, the expectation of the other side to drop everything and do work for you isn't always appropriate/balanced/appreciated. The underlying problem here is that communication is hard; especially if it's not face to face. People can't read your mind o…

> that talking to people is almost always the better choice when you get tempted to write a long reply. I’ve heard this “conclusion” from many people over my career. I disagree as a general rule as much of my work is scientific and technical and long replies are more useful than talking as having things written down makes things reproducible and shareable. I think long emails are bad ways to deliberate or debate or t…

> talk, don’t write” people is based on their inability to logically think through, structure, and communicate their ideas and, instead, would rather connect directly and hope the solution emerges from a conversation.

That is a remarkably direct way to dismiss the value of brainstorming. :)

Also consider that when content is easy to produce and distribute at scale people stop reading with any kind of attention - there’s too much to read and most of it is not targeted (relevant to me), far too generic and shallow in effort to address excessively large audience, and with little back pressure against verbosity. When we talk in person the other person knows that I am targeting the conversation and invest my time to the same extent they do, they will engage much more.

Also consider that often times a discussion will reframe the question rather than provide answer.

Also consider that people are dramatically more candid in person.

I’m wondering what is that nature of your work that none of this surfaced for you?

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#528

The complaint here is about lazy answers. But what about all the lazy questions? What's the equivalent of "Google it yourself" these days? When you ask something of somebody, the expectation of the other side to drop everything and do work for you isn't always appropriate/balanced/appreciated. The underlying problem here is that communication is hard; especially if it's not face to face. People can't read your mind o…

> what’s the equivalent of “google it yourself” these days? Do you actually say that to people? Edit: i’ve hit the comment limit per given time, but all I have to say is “what have you found so far?” And “Google it yourself” are radically different responses man. The former is far more reasonable, it shows you are willing to be helpful and is a productive question. The other is just rude and implies your time is too…

> what have you found so far?

Love it, thank you!

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#529
post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the response of AI is sufficient, why would i retype it in my own words? Just a waste of time. Most of what i have AI generate is based on my words and input anyways. I'll often write a draft note, and then have AI generate multiple formats, e.g., technical wording, marketing wording, management wording. Almost like taking raw content and using AI to rephrase it for specific channels.

if the response of AI is sufficient to do your job, why do you have a job?

As I said the response of AI is very much based on the input and context i give it. It’s not like everyone gets exactly the same answers from AI. Ai is a tool that I control.

Also, if the response of AI is sufficient, what is the added value of you spending more time on it?

Re: Don't paste the AI, please

#530
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the AI isn't autonomous, and cannot vet it's own outputs. If an AI answers a question perfectly, I'll go with it. But if my boss fires me for no longer being needed because of the AI, good luck to him and his new idiot employee.

If your response when someone asks a job-related question is to paste AI, then you're the one telling your boss that AI can do your job. Asking questions is part of the job. Answering questions is part of the job. Collaborating with other people is the most important part of the job . Some junior technical folks early in their career might bristle at this: "my job is to write this code I'm writing, and anything else…

I see it differently: if you’re not willing to consider how you could be better/faster/more productive with AI, you’re unwilling to adapt to the future, and not flexible enough. You’re going to slow down your employer. Most business text does not benefit from a user spending time on phrasing it, it’s not literature.
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