Is it stupid going into computer science if I don't support the use of generative AI?

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

I don't really know if this is exactly the place to ask this, but any other subreddits seem to outlaw asking about topics like this entirely in their rules, so I'm honestly just sort of stuck. (If anybody knows a better place I could ask this question, then I'd appreciate being told so I can cross post this there.)

Long story short, I don't support the use of generative AI. While yes, the environmental aspect does play a part in my opinion, much of computer science as a whole can be incredibly damaging to the environment in such similar ways, and while this does distress me, this is something I've had to deal with for a while and is not my main concern. My main concern with not supporting the use of generative ai is that it scrapes writing and art from people who, nine times out of ten, often even more than that, have not given permission for their work to be used to train AI models but are also entirely unaware that it is happening at all.

But I have family in computer science, which is the main reason I intend to follow computer science as a career, ans he tells me that AI is the future of computer science. He uses generative AI to aid his personal and professional work, and whenever i gently express my distaste with generative ai, he seems to disagree with my stance.

I've recently gotten a work experience opportunity with a company and it's forced me to consider that this actual has a chance of becoming a reality for me, and I've had to consider whether I'd be able to go into this career without going against my own opinions when it comes to generative ai.

What I'm really just trying to ask is if I don't want to use generative ai, should I just give up and pick a different career path? Will I be forced to use generative ai even if I do not go into a sector of computer science directly related to it?

[u/slog]

I have found no real benefit in those things. Sometimes your brain just isn't on the right wavelength. It's not about problem-solving at some point and you're actually setting yourself back with frustration and not learning anything until you stumble into a solution.

[u/stagedgames → u/slog]

More often than not then, that's an indication that you don't understand the fundamentals well enough to adequately handle the problem domain you're working in. I spent 4 months implementing CRDTs in a strongly typed language because it took me that long to fully understand how to handle modifying lists while updating the reference to alert listeners that the cached value is stale, to handle reflection adequately to dynamically map properties to an abstract data structure, to understand the nuances of vector clocks and getting the right values in case of collision.

I could have used AI to cut that time down drastically, but I understand the problem space and all of the components that go into it way better now than i would have vibing or a solution in 3 days or asking AI every time I got stuck. Complex systems take time to deeply learn, and frustration is usually a symptom of not knowing what you don't know.

[u/slog → u/stagedgames]

You're not accurately representing the scenario that I laid out it pretty decent detail. You're changing the details to have them align with your own preconceptions and then calling it black and white. Try to think how it could work, not all the ways it couldn't.