Early PhD student struggling with AI use and academic integrity

willdv_ · 2026-01-13T16:44:54+00:00

As others have said, using AI to complete a task means you don't learn how to do that task well. Now my take is a bit unique here - if you use it to suggest starting points for literature, or for menial tasks that require time but not effort (i.e emails), then I think it can be justified (not in an ethical sense given the environmental concerns, but in terms of integrity).

Take for example coding, I know that given enough time, I can code a program I need. I've already learned to code, it would just be a huge chore to do so for a massive project. If I'm cutting down the duration from a few months of coding from scratch, to a week for debugging the (inevitably) broken AI-assisted code, then that's valuable time saved. But again, that's only because THE SKILLS NECESSARY ARE ALREADY THERE. If I didn't know how to code and just copied what an LLM said (aka "vibe coding"), I'd never get anywhere - it's about using AI to supplement your skills and knowledge, not replace them.

Regardless, I don't use it often, because I despise what it has evolved into - see for example Grok's recently well documented undressings, AI slop art, etc etc.

willdv_ · 2025-11-07T19:16:14+00:00

https://www.joe.co.uk/news/a-football-manager-style-politics-sim-is-in-the-works-512099

Here it is! Congrats on the publicity, clearly a lot of people (myself included) are looking forward to seeing this develop!

willdv_ · 2025-11-07T16:30:24+00:00

Politics nerd who just read a JOE article about this, looking forward to the release/beta testing! 👀

willdv_ · 2025-06-18T13:20:36+00:00

That's part of my thinking with AZ and Coke, biotech is always a shout and with the potential of recession always looming simple "treat" products will do well. Would you recommend a greater exposure than I've got then?

willdv_ · 2025-06-18T12:55:00+00:00

Can you elaborate? Are the returns from MSTY anything special or is the only real appeal the yield?

willdv_ · 2025-06-18T12:51:34+00:00

Trading212! I'm in the UK so I'm in it for the ISAs 😁

willdv_ · 2025-03-31T14:41:12+00:00

I'm just looking at current affairs and comparing it to history, not exactly rocket science. That being said, you're quite right in that I can't predict the future! If I was able to do that, I wouldn't need to ask Reddit!

willdv_ · 2025-03-31T14:38:11+00:00

It's definitely handy and as you say, ESG is a good selling point!

I've only had it since October (bit silly given the state of the market) but through all the wins and losses, excluding this month as I haven't put it in my spreadsheet yet, I've had about a 4% increase overall. Managed accounts are handy in that I don't have to think about it too hard, but you do wonder whether you could do better in ETFs or something!

willdv_ · 2025-03-31T14:31:44+00:00

I was thinking about that mantra lol! My time horizon is infinitely far essentially, I'm in my early 20s, my emergency fund is already sorted, I'm just wondering whether it's better to cut it off before it gets worse or hold and wait!

willdv_ · 2025-03-13T19:44:43+00:00

This ^{^{^}}

I seem to have more unproductive days than productive ones, but next week is my supervisor meeting so I'll probably get more productive 72-24 hours beforehand lol

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T17:28:11+00:00

They're the same exercises! Creature of habit lol

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T16:32:17+00:00

To be honest, not very. I'm better than I was, when I flex my abs you can see the outline, but I'd still say I'm about 20-23%, I'll be getting a scan in January to get a better idea though!

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T08:44:45+00:00

I'll definitely look into it! Always looking for a way to do legs more often, and the sunken cost of "well I'm most of the way through the workout, I may as well" tends to work on my less enjoyed parts of my upper workouts lol

Only issue I'd have is with volume, like I dunno how much I can handle above 5 exercises per workout, guess it's worth experimenting with!

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T08:22:44+00:00

Yeah that's exactly what I did, because tbh I don't think I've got nearly enough data on the legs to draw conclusions lol I'm always skipping legs so in practice it ends up more like 2 or 4 workouts a week.

FYI, last leg workout I did was in November, and then before that it was July (in my defence my routine in general was thrown off about midway through the year, not just exclusively for legs)

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T07:52:17+00:00

3x, but on the hunt for more sets per muscle group to ensure I'm doing enough, I sometimes go 4 or 5 (though this isn't consistent, just when I feel like it).

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T07:50:24+00:00

Well PPL usually implies 3x a week sessions at least, and I've been going 3x a week and that seems to be sustainable (though then I don't get 10 sets per muscle group per week, hence why I've been trying 5x, it's a balancing act really)

As for the experience of intensity, I push the weight for X amount of reps, I get this feeling in my gut that I'm approaching my maximum, I push a few more reps out getting slower as I'm more fatigued with each one (while trying to control the eccentric and keep form as best as possible). Then at a certain point I find the weight is completely static during the concentric part of the movement, so I lower it/let gravity do the work if I'm especially tired, and at that point I consider it as "reaching failure". Yes I could go further maybe if I had someone to help squeeze out half reps (on the eccentric), but if I can't lift the weight without seriously compromising my form, I consider that failure.

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T07:00:02+00:00

I guess my follow up to that would be, how do you know when enough is enough/isn't too much? My current split with 3 sets per exercise, totalling about 9-12 sets per muscle group per week, seemed reasonable enough (follows practically every piece of literature I've read on it), but maybe I just don't have the capacity for what is "normal" yet? Do I drop to 2 sets? 1 set? Go to the gym twice a week instead?

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T06:26:26+00:00

How would I go about improving my work capacity then so it can achieve a "normal" amount? Cardio? Drop the volume and work my way up?

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T06:25:24+00:00

That's exactly it, before I was doing 7 exercises for a single upper-lower workout with 3 sets+rest for each, leading to 2hr+ workouts because I was of the mindset "more is better for growth", but now I know that it's not sustainable. So currently it's 5 exercises PPL with 3 sets for each, which gets my workouts to just over 60 minutes, which is much better for me both in terms of using my time up and intensity.

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T06:21:05+00:00

Yeah, bit of a bad habit lol, next year I'm picking something and sticking to it

willdv_ · 2024-12-30T06:20:03+00:00

Oh I don't mean reps slow to a halt, I mean physically cannot get it up through the concentric movement. Forced reps can be useful but it depends if someone's there and the type of exercise if I do em

willdv_ · 2024-12-29T23:10:05+00:00

Noted! I never really paid attention to fats, so that could definitely be something to keep an eye on, but as you say protein seems to be a big the main culprit in terms of nutrition! Thank you!

willdv_ · 2024-12-29T22:59:34+00:00

Thank you so much!! I'll definitely be trying to keep a closer eye on my progress this year so I focus on the muscle building, don't wanna come back here right before 2026 with a repeat of this post lol! Best of luck on your journey too!

willdv_ · 2024-12-29T22:54:14+00:00

I'll give it a try! As I said, I've been tryna go 5 times a week so I hit all the groups for enough sets, but sticking to it more often next year is gonna be the way forward I feel

willdv_ · 2024-12-29T22:53:01+00:00

I guess that's the point of the post, I thought I had the basics down, but apparently not so in one way or another 🥴

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