from Hacker News

Ask HN: How generative AI made a difference in your job/life?

by emersonrsantos on 7/26/24, 11:25 PM with 4 comments

• by trealira on 7/26/24, 11:46 PM

  I'm taking a second course in physics right now (as an undergraduate student). When I'm stuck on a homework problem, I use ChatGPT to tell me how to do the problem; although it doesn't always get the problem completely right, it's usually a very big help. It's great because it explains the physics concepts as it goes through the problem. This way, if I'm absolutely stuck and don't have friends, I can still get help and complete the homework without being late. However, I try not to rely on it, since otherwise I won't grasp the concepts and my exam grades will suffer. I only use it after I've read the textbook, looked stuff up on Google, tried all the equations I could think of, and I'm still stuck.

• by meristohm on 7/27/24, 12:26 AM

  Nope, and I do what I can to avoid it. Searching anything online feels like the smouldering dumpster now has oxygen intakes.

  Focusing instead on community-building, talking with people face to face, walking around outside without anything in my ears, borrowing and reading library books (as a proxy for receiving wisdom in person from peers and elders), and tending the few acres I live on, towards greater diversity, reciprocity, and resilience.

  I still have several computers, and I still play videogames (mainly to keep in touch with distant childhood friends), but when I imagine life without those luxuries I am not sad.

• by billconan on 7/26/24, 11:39 PM

  I use it a lot to improve my writings.

• by jrflowers on 7/26/24, 11:43 PM

  I now ignore summary cards in search results completely and have to double and triple check everything to make sure that it’s not a hallucination when finding answers to simple questions. Finding reliable information takes up more time now than it did pre-internet, full stop.