Paula Maddox

So I tried an AI thing to generate some VHDL, just for curiosity.
I asked it to generate a delta sigma DAC, which it did and it worked, but aside from a few changes to names it was pretty much the same as I had written before.
I asked it to generate an ADSR with exponential curves, oh dear, what a mess. I ended up rewriting 90% of it.

My thoughts are that I do these things because I want to learn and make stuff. AI may help you make stuff, but it won’t help you learn.

Jun 15 at 6:11amIceCubesApp
Show threadSteffi2d ago

@PaulaMaddox it's worse. I recently saw a study that using AI actually decreases persistence in learning new skills, and also reading comprehension. And this effect is apparently measurable after only 10 minutes (!) of AI use.

So not only does AI not help you learn, it actually diminishes your ability to learn.

Show threadJoshua Barretto2d ago
@PaulaMaddox Glad to hear that there are some things it's yet to touch. I increasingly envy your working in a field for which domain knowledge isn't scattered over the internet in an easily scrape-able form...
Show threadPaula Maddox2d ago
@jsbarretto yeah, at least for now.
Show threadKlaus Frank2d ago

@PaulaMaddox

Well it can help you learn, but you'll have to go the extra mile of dissecting the thing you got.

Why does it work? How does it work? What happens when I remove this or that part?

Show threadRC20142d ago
@PaulaMaddox It sounds like you did learn something. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, you may not have learned what you wanted to learn, but you ended up learning what you needed to know.
Show threadPaula Maddox2d ago
@rc2014 yea, I learned that AI isn’t going to work for me.
Show threadMatt Gumbley2d ago
@PaulaMaddox it’s useless at 3D design (with openscad) as well. Unless you want things to look like Salvador Dali :)