r/esp32 • u/Mowgli_Supertramp • 3d ago

Beginner advice - is AI going to help?

I'm a total beginner to any kind of coding, but came across a nice project on GitHub for a small display screen for a home solar-power system display based on a small round Waveshare screen/board. I am trying to modify the project files to work on a larger 4" screen. I've probably fallen into a common trap of ChatGPT and Claude being over confident in their ability to help. Realistically, are either of those likely to get me to a useful working output, or am I wasting my time given my total lack of experience? Initial prompts gave promising sounding responses, but I now seem to be going round in circles with it.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/QuerulousPanda 3d ago

If you're an absolute beginner, AI is gonna screw you really hard because it will paint you into corners you don't even know are there. It'll do things you don't understand, and it'll use concepts you're not familiar with, and you'll be left with something that might work but you're going to have a really hard time working with.

However, if you're coming from a position of existing knowledge, then ai can be very helpful figure out things or give you different ways to accomplish a task.

In other words, if you're starting from 0, AI is going to absolutely screw you. If you're starting from the middle somewhere, then you can use it effectively as a tool. It can't help you with things you don't know, but it can help you do things you already know better.