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Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

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Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#91

Post by Planktonne »

yesco wrote: post #26
captain_coffee wrote: post #6

Curious what the long-term effects from the current LLM-based "AI" systems embedded in virtually everything and pushed aggressively will be in let's say 10 years, any strong opinions or predictions on this topic?

If we focus only on the impact on linguistics, I predict things will go something like this: As LLM use normalizes for essay writing (email, documentation, social media, etc), a pattern emerges where everyone uses an LLM as an editor. People only create rough drafts and then have their "editor" make it coherent. Interestingly, people might start using said editor prompts to express themselves, causing an increased ra…

> people might start using said editor prompts to express themselves, causing an increased range in distinct writing styles

We're already seeing people use AI to express themselves in several contexts, but it doesn't lead to an increased range of styles. It leads to one style, the now-ubiquitous upbeat LinkedIn tone.

Theoretically we could see diversification here, with different tools prompting towards different voices, but at the moment the trend is the opposite.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#92

Post by coopykins »

When I have to put together a quick fix. I reach out to Claude Code these days. I know I can give it the specifics and, Im my recent experience, it will find the issue and propose a fix. Now, I have two options: I can trust it or I can dig in myself and understand why it's happening myself. I sacrifice gaining knowledge for time. I often choose the later, and put my time in areas I think are more important than this, but I'm aware of it.

If you give up your hands-on interaction with a system, you will lose your insight about it.

When you build an application yourself, you know every part of it. When you vibe code, trying to debug something in there is a black box of code you've never seen before.

That is one of the concerns I have when people suggest that LLMs are great for learning. I think the opposite, they're great for skipping 'learning' and just get the results. Learning comes from doing the grunt work.

I use LLMs to find stuff often, when I'm researching or I need to write an ADR, but I do the writing myself, because otherwise it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you know what the 'LLM' is talking about, when in fact you are clueless about it. I find it harder to write about something I'm not familiar with, and then I know I have to look more into it.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#93

Post by wtetzner »

coopykins wrote: post #92

When I have to put together a quick fix. I reach out to Claude Code these days. I know I can give it the specifics and, Im my recent experience, it will find the issue and propose a fix. Now, I have two options: I can trust it or I can dig in myself and understand why it's happening myself. I sacrifice gaining knowledge for time. I often choose the later, and put my time in areas I think are more important than this,…

I think LLMs can be great for learning, but not if you're using them to do work for you. I find them most valuable for explaining concepts I've been trying to learn, but have gotten stuck and am struggling to find good resources for.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#94

Post by ensocode »

carterschonwald wrote: post #86

idk, if anything I’m thinking more. The idea that I might be able to build everything I’ve ever planned out. At least the way I’m using them, it’s like the perfect assistive device for my flavor of ADHD — I get an interactive notebook I can talk through crazy stuff with. No panacea for sure, but I’m so much higher functioning it’s surreal. I’m not even using em in the volume many folks claim, more like pair programmi…

Maybe it’s not that we’re getting stupid because we don’t use our brains anymore. It’s more like having a reliable way to make fire — so we stop obsessing over sparks and start focusing on building something more important.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#95

Post by ensocode »

carterschonwald wrote: post #86

idk, if anything I’m thinking more. The idea that I might be able to build everything I’ve ever planned out. At least the way I’m using them, it’s like the perfect assistive device for my flavor of ADHD — I get an interactive notebook I can talk through crazy stuff with. No panacea for sure, but I’m so much higher functioning it’s surreal. I’m not even using em in the volume many folks claim, more like pair programmi…

I feel the same. Do you think this is because the ADHD brain has so many ideas or is it the same for neuro-normal people?

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#96

Post by LtWorf »

imp0cat wrote: post #81
layman51 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a great tip, but I know some people hate that because there is some cognitive load if they rely more on visuals and have to think more about which way to turn or face when they first start the route, or have to make turns on unfamiliar routes. I also wanted to mention that just spending some time looking at the maps and comparing differences in each services' suggested routes can be helpful for developing dire…

some cognitive load That's the entire point of it though, to make you more aware of where you are and which way you should go.

Extra cognitive load while driving isn't the smartest idea probably.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#97

Post by kminehart »

carterschonwald wrote: post #86

idk, if anything I’m thinking more. The idea that I might be able to build everything I’ve ever planned out. At least the way I’m using them, it’s like the perfect assistive device for my flavor of ADHD — I get an interactive notebook I can talk through crazy stuff with. No panacea for sure, but I’m so much higher functioning it’s surreal. I’m not even using em in the volume many folks claim, more like pair programmi…

I can definitely relate to the abstract at least. While I am more productive now, and I am way more excited about working on longer term projects (especially by myself), I have found that the minutia is way more strenuous than it was before. I think that inhibits my ability to review what the LLM is producing.

I haven't been diagnosed with ADHD or anything but i also haven't been tested for it. It's something I have considered but I think it's pretty underdiagnosed in Spain.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#98

Post by mcv »

This seems to confirm my feeling when using AI too much. It's easy to get started, but I can feel my brain engaging less with the problem than I'm used to. It can form a barrier to real understanding, and keeps me out of my flow.

I recently worked on something very complex I don't think I would have been able to tackle as quickly without AI; a hierarchical graph layout algorithm based on the Sugiyama framework, using Brandes-Köpf for node positioning. I had no prior experience with it (and I went in clearly underestimating how complex it was), and AI was a tremendous help in getting a basic understanding of the algorithm, its many steps and sub-algorithms, the subtle interactions and unspoken assumptions in it. But letting it write the actual code was a mistake. That's what kept me from understanding the intricacies, from truly engaging with the problem, which led me to keep relying on the AI to fix issues, but at that point the AI clearly also had no real idea what it was doing, and just made things worse.

So instead of letting the AI see the real code, I switched from the Copilot IDE plugin to the standalone Copilot 365 app, where it could explain the principles behind every step, and I would debug and fix the code and develop actual understanding of what was going on. And I finally got back into that coding flow again.

So don't let the AI take over your actual job, but use it as an interactive encyclopedia. That works much better for this kind of complex problem.

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#99

Post by ensocode »

coopykins wrote: post #92

When I have to put together a quick fix. I reach out to Claude Code these days. I know I can give it the specifics and, Im my recent experience, it will find the issue and propose a fix. Now, I have two options: I can trust it or I can dig in myself and understand why it's happening myself. I sacrifice gaining knowledge for time. I often choose the later, and put my time in areas I think are more important than this,…

> I think the opposite, they're great for skipping 'learning' and just get the results. yes, and cars skip the hours of walking, planes skip weeks of swimming, calculators skip the calculating ...

Re: Your brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of cognitive debt when using an AI assistant

#100

Post by imp0cat »

LtWorf wrote: post #96
imp0cat wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

some cognitive load That's the entire point of it though, to make you more aware of where you are and which way you should go.

Extra cognitive load while driving isn't the smartest idea probably.

That's debatable.

It is hard to gain some location awareness and get better at navigating without extra cognitive load. You have to actively train your brain to get better, there is no easy way that I know of.

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