‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

One Month Without AI

188 points · 228 comments · saibotk

  1. gizajob · · focus · HN ↗
    “ There were tasks I could have done in 20 minutes easily, that took 5 minutes of an AI agent, and then 2 days for me to review.”

    This is using AI for productivity in any domain, in a nutshell. I just wrote a book using Claude as an experiment, and while the thing got done and it was an amazing tool and a great experience, what I’m left with is a book where every line needs rewriting, there are logical inconsistencies throughout, and the style is so bad it should actually just be binned rather than rewritten.

    1. abc123abc123 · · focus · HN ↗
      This is the way. Basically, what determines when to use AI or not is what you enjoy about the creative process. Do you only care about the result, use AI, and then spend hours (or days) fixing errors, tweaking, rewriting, using other AI:s to validate and improve the first AI etc. You get the result, and your activity consist of arguing with AI:s.

      If you enjoy the craft and the creative process of actually coming up with new thoughts, instead of relying on the probabilistic combinations of thoughts of others, then you can just as well do it yourself and have full control of the process.

      I use AI for low value work with dead lines, where the customers don't really care about the result either. For the golden services and customer engagements were I can tell the customer cares deeply, I use little to no AI, and then get a deep sense of fulfillment due to a job well done.

      1. AnimalMuppet · · focus · HN ↗
        So you use AI when it's all right to produce slop. That actually seems reasonable.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.