A new AIdentity

21 Nov 2023

Introduction

AI recently has been a prevalent topic for digital assistance in education, specifically the machine learning tools such as chatgt and github copilot. Usually in universities, we see the disapproving sentiments of professors when students use these tools, however in computer science, chatgpt and other AI, can really benefit a student both in and out of education. ChatGPT may be a way for a student to get answers that don’t require critical thinking for some tasks, but it is when an objective requires much of menial tasks that chatgpt shines as a tool to manifest another increase of efficiancy.

Personal Experience with AI

AI, specifically chatgpt had been anintegral tool for using when completing tasks for ICS 314,

Experience WOD - For experience wod’s I had to use chatgpt for debugging, specifically if an error occurs in my code and I am unable to identify the portion that generates the error
In-class Practice WODs - Much like the experience wods, chatgpt was mainly a tool to use to debug my code if an error that I can’t identify appears.
In-class WODs - Similarly to the previous wods, chatgpt had been a way to debug my code for instances where I am unable to pinpoint a problem, mainly I used chatgpt for the latter half of Wod’s where we got into react bootstrap html/css
Essays - I did not use any sort of AI with essays as it would have not allowed and it is not productive to completing the essays, essays are a more personalized assignment that values the writers perspective.
Final project - Our team mainly used chatgpt for debugging and making code that we usually would have to search through documentation for, such as what type of button we needed, or the react bootstrap classes for the code we showed.
Learning a concept / tutorial - I didn’t really use chatgpt much in this aspect, but I can see how chatgpt will be used to explain certian concepts that we would find hard to digest.
Answering a question in class or in Discord - Chatgpt can be very helpful for basic questions that students may ask in didscord, however for more advances issues that require multiple files, or errors, it may be difficult to use chatgpt to help you, in which having someone else assist in person would be more prefferable
Asking or answering a smart-question - like above, for moer simple questions chatgpt and other ai may be helpful but abstract questions may be harder to solve with AI
Coding example - I used chatgpt to show the correct syntax when writing code, ususally asking for examples of the correct code, such as the right way to subscribe to collections from mongodb and the write way to format a code.
Explaining code - Chatgpt is helpful in explaining codes and examples as the ai is able to explain every line of code and how it is essential for the program.
Writing code - I used chatgpt to write simple code such as generating a button or correcting incorrect syntax for already existing code.
Documenting code - Chatgpt makes comments for the code it generates which allows the users to not need to write comments, and the comments it gives were constructed in an easy to understand sentence format
Quality assurance - This was what I mainly used chatgpt for in ICS 314. Fixing my code by putting it in chatgpt ususally is effective for a majority of the time. The AI is advanced enough to filter through hundreds of lines of code and find the problem to fix in a quick manner. I usually input my code with a pleas fic promp which solves most problems.
Other uses in ICS 314 not listed - I did not use chatgpt for any other tasks, it was mainly a tool for debugging and generating simple repetitive code.

Impact on Learning and Understanding

AI had a great influence in my learning during the course. It helped me solve minor to difficult problems such as syntax, and giving the right piece of code for teh goals I want to accompish. Chatgpt allowed me to gain more skills by easing me into the assignments through explaining the answers it gicves. It also allows my problem solving abilities to develop by giving examples to probems I could utilize in similar situations, such as how to correctly format a navbar with flex dislpay.

Practical Applications

AI had been used for other applications by me such as generating a personality for a character in creative writing, or the resources needed for specific prograams I use such as unity and unreal.

Challenges and Opportunities

A challenge I found when using AI is the limitation to recent developments for data, chatgpt for example when it launched only had access to data up to 2021 so for recent applications or updates to apllications, it would be impossible to get answers from chatgpt. I feel that chatgpt and other AI will be able to give more positives for educations with newer features being added. Creating programs in less time would allow for more material to be covered in the ICS 314 course.

Comparative Analysis

Learning with AI compared to traditional teaching allows for both positives and negatives. One such pro is the availiblility of AI from any location, you are able to access ai frequently in any period of the day with a stable internet connection, but compared to AI, traditional teacching is limited by the professor/teacher being a person that has other responsibilities and dedications other than class, so it would be impossible to be ready to solve your problems all the time. A con however is the decline of person to person communication in most cases would allow a person to comprehend the material and or ask questions that ai may not understand or be able to solve.

Future Considerations

AI will only get better as time goes on. With the development of newer features such as image queries with ai, software engineering will become more accesible for other students. In a field that is the fastest growing sector of society, AI is a tool needed to train more students.

Conclusion

AI is a tool that is essewntial for the future of computer science, it helped me by dewbuggin my code ininstances where I was unable to find the problem, it made the repetitive simple code that would take a long time to make otherwise, adn it allowed a way to have examples be given through promping the ai with a problem. I think that Ai is integrated greatly for the current features it has in this course.