Getting good at AI takes time and practice

Many people think1 that getting “good at AI” is trivial. Sure, with some early models there were tricks you had to learn,2 but current models don’t need them. Even if there are different tricks3 that work on current models, the next generation will render them obsolete, so why bother? Just tell the model what you want it to do. This take is particularly popular with the anti-AI crowd, who scoff4 at the idea that AI-reluctant people are being left behind, or that it might be irresponsible to advise other engineers to avoid AI use entirely. According to them, if AI does ever become capable enough to be worth using, they’ll be able to start using it with no learning curve. Is that right? No. Like most things, getting good at using AI isn’t just about clever tricks. It requires developing long-term skills5, which takes time and practice. Supplying the right context One failure mode I’ve seen with people who are new to AI is expecting it to read their mind: for instance, asking it to…