5 ms·

AI Coding will Prevent Expertise – The need for friction in skill formation

4 points by larsfaye 2mo ago

verdverm 2mo ago
"prevent" seems too active a word to me, you can also use Ai to expand expertise, depending on how you use it "will" is also making a conclusion or prediction, and to me we are still very very early in this technology, which will interact with socioeconomic cycles as things do
- vouaobrasil 2mo ago
  It's not a matter of what's possible with individuals today that matters, though. What's important is how AI will change the landscape and make it harder to require deep expertise. I mean, I think we've plenty of evidence from the past that when someone doesn't develop a skill by themselves, they don't acquire it, and too much automation prevents that development in pretty much any skill area.
  - verdverm 2mo ago
    Innovation changes the skills we need. Has lacking the know how to plow a field inhibited you? Is knowing the quirks of a computer language or technology going to be a required skill going forward? For me, in CS, Ai enables me to focus on and build higher level expertises. Today I think you have to be an expert in a thing to make Ai useful for that thing, and I suspect Ai will enable more people to level up their understanding of topics. Certainly some people will use Ai to learn and others will use Ai as a shortcut. It's not a one outcome kind of thing, like any tool humans have built.
    - vouaobrasil 2mo ago
      > Innovation changes the skills we need. Has lacking the know how to plow a field inhibited you? In a manner of speaking, yes. Now I've gotten to a point in my life where some more basic skills would actually be useful in pursuing the life I want to live. The problem is, it's good to know a lot of general stuff for the times when you need to pivot into doing something else. But even in the same field, micro-pivoting needs to be done sometimes and AI also will make that harder because people will develop less manual skills to learn for themselves.
      - verdverm 2mo ago
        > AI also will make that harder because people will develop less manual skills to learn for themselves I'm not sure I agree with this line of thinking. For most of our early learning phase of life, there is a lot oversight and guidance. As adults, we often go to others to ask questions. Ai has separated the expert knowledge from the human meatbody. I find learning of all types easier with Ai available to help me.
- larsfaye 2mo ago
  The extended title is more like: "AI Coding will Prevent Expertise if We Continue To Focus on Code Generation rather than Socratic and Educational Workflow Design" ...but I had to compress it for brevity! The points and studies I bring up in the essay support what you're saying. Problem is: I'm seeing very little movement in that direction, but a whole lot around the abdication of responsibility when it comes to AI coding in general.

4 points by larsfaye 2mo ago

"prevent" seems too active a word to me, you can also use Ai to expand expertise, depending on how you use it "will" is also making a conclusion or prediction, and to me we are still very very early in this technology, which will interact with socioeconomic cycles as things do

vouaobrasil 2mo ago
It's not a matter of what's possible with individuals today that matters, though. What's important is how AI will change the landscape and make it harder to require deep expertise. I mean, I think we've plenty of evidence from the past that when someone doesn't develop a skill by themselves, they don't acquire it, and too much automation prevents that development in pretty much any skill area.
- verdverm 2mo ago
  Innovation changes the skills we need. Has lacking the know how to plow a field inhibited you? Is knowing the quirks of a computer language or technology going to be a required skill going forward? For me, in CS, Ai enables me to focus on and build higher level expertises. Today I think you have to be an expert in a thing to make Ai useful for that thing, and I suspect Ai will enable more people to level up their understanding of topics. Certainly some people will use Ai to learn and others will use Ai as a shortcut. It's not a one outcome kind of thing, like any tool humans have built.
  - vouaobrasil 2mo ago
    > Innovation changes the skills we need. Has lacking the know how to plow a field inhibited you? In a manner of speaking, yes. Now I've gotten to a point in my life where some more basic skills would actually be useful in pursuing the life I want to live. The problem is, it's good to know a lot of general stuff for the times when you need to pivot into doing something else. But even in the same field, micro-pivoting needs to be done sometimes and AI also will make that harder because people will develop less manual skills to learn for themselves.
    - verdverm 2mo ago
      > AI also will make that harder because people will develop less manual skills to learn for themselves I'm not sure I agree with this line of thinking. For most of our early learning phase of life, there is a lot oversight and guidance. As adults, we often go to others to ask questions. Ai has separated the expert knowledge from the human meatbody. I find learning of all types easier with Ai available to help me.
larsfaye 2mo ago
The extended title is more like: "AI Coding will Prevent Expertise if We Continue To Focus on Code Generation rather than Socratic and Educational Workflow Design" ...but I had to compress it for brevity! The points and studies I bring up in the essay support what you're saying. Problem is: I'm seeing very little movement in that direction, but a whole lot around the abdication of responsibility when it comes to AI coding in general.