Fuck AI

Asking a coworker for help is usually a much better way to get a relevant and correct answer on the first try. On my work computer I can’t reconfigure anything, so I’m forced to see chatbot results for my basic web searches. When I need a quick answer, I search myself before bugging anyone. Since I have to scroll past the “AI” answer to get to the relevant results, I’ve often checked to see if it’s right.

It has never been right.

I gotta stress that. It has never given me an answer I can use. I work in a field that isn’t particularly niche, and use software that millions of people use. If I need to figure out how to do something in an application, the chatbot answer will literally invent entire menus that don’t exist, just to show me exactly how not to do the thing I need. It’s all made up. I wish it would just say something like “Sorry, we don’t know how that software works yet.” But nope, it just makes shit up.

So if I still can’t figure out how to do the thing without wasting too much time researching, I send a quick slack message to a coworker, and in 30 seconds I get a screenshot with big red arrow pointing at what I need. Humans win every time, and it’s insulting to your coworkers when you don’t take advantage of their experience. Bonus you’ll never need to bug anyone about how to do that thing again, so everybody wins.