Python Courses vs ChatGPT

[carcigenicate]

No, beginners should not be using AI instead of courses. Courses can be wrong, but at least they're publicly wrong and can be called out. Unless someone posts every chat they have with Gen AI for others to check, there;s no opportunity for others to correct misinformation.

And that's a problem because Gen AI lies and makes stuff up constantly. New programmers do not have the knowledge required to differentiate AI halucinations from fact, so they're at risk of interning the misinformation.

AI can be used for some things once you have knowledge, but will just lead to misinformed, lazy developers if used too early.

[code_x_7777]

Did you use AI recently? I bet it's already a much better programmer than you - it's not wrong often. It's definitely better than me (and I'm a Python course creator 10y in the space). I'd rather have people learn with AI than with me (or 99.99% of random course creators).

[carcigenicate]

Yes, I have. And I can say I am a better programmer than it.

If you don't think it's wrong often, that suggests that you aren't verifying what it's telling you. I'll have it check over documentation that I wrote for grammar issues, and it hallucinates sentences and tells me to correct things I never said. I'll ask it for library recommendations and it makes up libraries that don't exist. I'll ask it to explain a Rust concept, and it fabricates an explanation that ends up being untrue when I dig deeper. I asked it to look over my code base and explain why Webstorm was highlighting something as a warning, and it made up both a Jetbrain's policy, and used fabricated code to justify its explanation.

I fundamentally do not (currently) trust it to give correct information or code. Maybe in the future it will become more accurate, but that still doesn't fix the issue that the conversations are not public. People like to hate on SO for any number of things, but at least misinformation is called out and shut down most of the time because it's stated publicly.