My job entails coding, so I sometimes find it useful for things like debugging and smaller blocks of code, but I would never use it to create a large piece of code in its entirety and I would never implicitly trust it. It gets things wrong too often for me to do that, and I feel like the error potential snowballs the larger the code block you‘re working with.

I have also used it to help me polish things such as CVs and personal statements. The key word here is “polish“; I write a base draft myself and work with AI to gradually refine it. I always review what it outputs, though, as it can add information you don’t want and/or add anachronisms like American English.

At times, I’ve used it as a sounding board on low-stakes issues… but I would not trust it with anything serious. It’s designed to be helpful and this resultantly can make it tend towards sycophancy, which means it can never truly replace a qualified professional.

I recently worked as a data developer, and I would say I used Copilot (we were forced to use Copilot) pretty often.

AI’s usefulness for producing large blocks of code from scratch is debatable, but I find it very useful for things like debugging of existing code, refactoring of existing code and very small bits of syntax or blocks of code (e.g. a basic function or loop to do one isolated function). I largely used AI when coding similarly to how I used Google/StackOverflow prior to its invention.

My general stance on AI is that it should be used as a supplement to your knowledge, not as a replacement for it. Always ensure that you review what it outputs, and always ensure that you still have knowledge of what you are using it to do. From previous use for coding, I have found it to make up Python libraries that don’t exist on occasion, and I once had a heated argument with it where it point blank insisted that a given SQL function didn’t convert decimal outputs into integers when I could see quite clearly from my own testing that it did!

Another less specific use I’ve had for AI is in helping me write things in a specific way, with one key example being for job applications. I’m not the most concise writer or the most impactful writer naturally, so I found it very helpful to write a base draft of a CV or personal statement and then have AI review it and give me suggestions for an improved body of text. I never get AI to “just write it for me”, and always provide an initial draft that I write purely by myself, but I find it very helpful to gradually work with AI to hone this sort of writing by tightening up wording and such. I find the iteration, with both me and AI gradually adding improvements, works quite well for me! Although again, I say this with the caveat that you should always review what it outputs, as it can add information you don’t want it to add as well as anachronisms like American English.

On the whole, I think it is genuinely useful for a number of things. As well as the above, I do sometimes use it as a sounding board on low-stakes issues… but for the love of god, do not go to it with anything genuinely serious. Bear in mind that it is incredibly sycophantic and designed to tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear, and for that reason, it cannot replace a qualified professional for those genuinely serious topics.