This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I read a study that people used to focus on remembering information they learned, but given the opportunity (Internet, books) instead they focused on remembering the location of the information they learned so that they could access it later
I used AI one time to find out what time it was in LA... now I can't tell time Edit: it's jokes. cmon lighting up a bit. Sheesh!
As someone who has a disorder and is prone to hyper fixation, this isn't a concern. The largest issue is that AI often claims they know how to do something, and it'll get you about 80% the way there.
The at the 80% mark, it admits the thing you're doing can't be done with the software or tool it recommended.
I feel like they could have (and probably did) say the same think about search engines 25 years ago.
Though this does seem a bit worse, depending on how you use it.
Yes, I was going to ask, how does this compare to with/without internet access.
Coders were also likely more persistent when they could only read the tool's manual and keep trying, vs getting the answer from StackOverflow immediately.
I've heard there's been a decline in memorization skils since the internet, but I have not verified.
getting the answer from StackOverflow immediately.
StackOverflow didn't have immediate responses and the responses were how to do the thing, not literally writing the code for you. The internet and support communities were like reference books and asking a colleague for advice, the normal way people learn.
LLMs are like having someone else do it for you. You have to actively try to lean something from how it did it and most people don't, they just take the answer and move on.
I don't know the details of this study but it sounds like a basic result if you get people to rely on something for most of an activity and then you take it away vs those who are doing it manually, they've been given more progressively difficult challenges but they've been actually practicing and doing the work and hence internalizing it better.
It's like those open versus closed book exams where those who actually study can do much better than those going through a book during the exam to figure it out. It's about internalizing and practicing a material.
Not really surprising results. I guess the empirical verification is good.
It’s not going away. It’s a tool. Learn to use it as a tool, not a replacement for your brain.
Not doing fun Maths exercises often enough erodes my desire to do start fun Math exercises. I don't use AI tho
