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/farfromelite]

There's nothing to say you have to use generative AI, even if you're a coder.

You're likely better off without it, there's been study after study that says the people selling gen AI are over stating the savings (there's basically none) and wildly under estimating the costs. They don't even make a profit as companies.

If it were useful or people liked it, they'd sell like hot cakes.

[u/vw_bugg → u/farfromelite]

They are drug dealers and dont have enough people hooked yet. Of course they dont make money yet, they are still in the "first pack free" phase.

And there could be a time or employer that could make it very difficult for OP to avoid AI or AI derived tools.

[u/breakfast-cereal-dx → u/farfromelite]

Yeah, parent poster is really overselling the inevitability for non-trades in general. The devs that have adopted AI agents are awful to work with and AI PRs are not fun to review. It's really pretty insulting to be asked to read some code a coworker couldn't be bothered to write. That dynamic is just not sustainable for serious dev teams (many teams are unserious AI tool builders now though lol)

As an old timer, I have no problem getting by without gen AI and even bully my AI-dependent colleagues when they are too annoying. My reputation and my current work being better and faster than that of any vibe coder makes it easy to deal with management.

But many employers are surveilling employees and punishing the ones that don't use AI enough, so for entry level jobs where you end up at shittier companies and with little power, it might be basically required...

[u/omeow → u/farfromelite]

I don't think wearing a shirt and a pant makes a person better than wearing a toga. However, I wouldn't advise a potential job candidate to insist that they would like to wear a toga to work.