Having learned to distrust AI output, the author of the following essay came to draw productive parallels to alchemy....

Having learned to distrust AI output, the author of the following essay came to draw productive parallels to alchemy. We are now in the pre-chemistry era of AI. We know how these models work, because we crafted their code ourselves, and yet in most cases we cannot say why: why this word and not another, why this particular path through the machine. The crucible is closed, and like the alchemists we are not going to stop using it. The alchemists were the ones in history who had to pull real value from a process they could not see into. Now it’s our turn. AI Made Me Look Foolish. Then I Learned, by Paul M. Sutter. Alchemy led to chemistry. Deliberate scientific approaches in our use of AI, will lead us to better understanding of the technology and improved outcomes. Arguably, the journey from early vibe coding to current coding harnesses illustrates some of that.

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