The Difference Between Using and Relying on AI

I recently read JP’s article, “Things Are Still Worth Doing Yourself”, and while I agree with some of what he’s saying, I think he’s placing AI usage into one rather narrow category. I agree that there’s value in creating something yourself. I also agree that relying on AI to do everything for you, without understanding the process or learning anything along the way, can be detrimental. Particularly when we’re talking about creative endeavors like writing, art, music, or game development. But I disagree with the idea that depending on AI in any meaningful capacity automatically means we’re abandoning critical thinking or opportunities to learn. Over the past several months, I’ve used AI extensively as a technical troubleshooting assistant. I’m a longtime Linux user, and between my desktop systems, servers, virtual machines, networking equipment, and self-hosted applications, there are plenty of opportunities for something to go wrong. I’ve worked through problems involving Linux…