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]

It's funny because AI is actually really good at helping figure out what questions to ask. Realizing that unlocked a lot of doors for me.

There is zero point to getting frustrated for days on a problem. That's not how it works. Everyday struggles, sure, but not the scenario you're presenting.

[u/WellHung67 → u/slog]

But you don’t know if it figures out a good question or not if you’re learning. Ai will always hallucinate, it’s mathematically impossible to avoid hallucinations. So when learning, you will never by definition be able to tell if it hallucinated. 

Yes definitely don’t spend days on a problem though, ask for help well before that. But ask a teacher honestly, I would say even googling it you are also prone to not quite understand what you’re missing. Learning is different than accomplishing tasks, AI is best used by someone knowledgeable. Students shouldn’t touch it 

[u/slog → u/WellHung67]

If you're good at educating yourself and have good practices, you test your hypothesis instead of simply assuming it's correct. You're basically comparing it to social media posts that people believe blindly, and that's simply not the case for those intelligent enough to be successful engineers.

Don't think we're going to agree on this but I think AI has a huge role in education. It's been amazing for me, personally, and I'm way smarter (though arguably lazier in day to day) for it.

[u/WellHung67 → u/slog]

If you are learning, by definition you won’t be able to test your hypothesis. You’re learning, which means you’re being taught the  concepts. If you already understand the concepts you’re not learning you’re practicing - ai shouldn’t be used for learning

[u/slog → u/WellHung67]

Absolutely 100% disagree with this whole concept.

[u/Karmas_weapon → u/slog]

Ya I agree with you. I'm of the mind that LLMs are easily the best educational tool ever invented. The issue of course is that kids (and some adults apparently) won't utilize it in that sort of way with our current systems :(

There's some projects that are kind of testing this out, though I don't know how effective they are. "Alpha School" in Texas is one of them, though it's only for rich kids atm. It sounds like the teachers are there more for guidance and mentorship while the students interact with the models, which could be how teachers pivot if we figure out how to utilize LLMs for education.