How I'm using AI in May 2023
As of May 2023, I use the following AI-powered products on at least a weekly basis:
- GitHub Copilot ⭐
- Writing code: typically this is autocomplete to the end of the line, but occasionally it generates small blocks of code. Rarely I use it to generate a Regex for a particular pattern, saving me a search, copy, and paste from StackOverflow.
- ChatGPT
- Conversations: the best for prompt engineering, it runs with a persona that you give it. I’ve found rubber-duck sessions with a “helpful coworker who asks insightful questions” to be really helpful.
- Generating structured code: creates a list of ten objects that match a given structure.
- Document drafting: I needed to write a charter for a church building committee and had no clue where to start. A few prompts to ChatGPT, and I had an outline and draft to follow.
- Bing
- Internet searches: if I have a question that would typically require more than one search, then I’ll ask Bing. It does a good job of answering with citations.
- Summarizing content: given a URL, Bing does a good job of summarizing content from a web page. You can even ask for comprehension questions if you’re reading to learn.
- Bard 📈
- Coding questions: Bard gives the right balance of length and depth for questions I have about programming. It usually includes helpful code snippets.
- Warp
- Command suggestions: saves a lot of time searching for those common commands that you can never seem to remember, e.g. “how to undo the last commit?”
As of May 2023, I have access to but no interest in the following products:
- Midjourney/Dall·E/Bing Images: I’ve seen some of the things they generate, and while some of it is cool none of it feels useful to me.
- Notion: I don’t need an AI to write content for me.
Sean McPherson works as a software engineer at Khan Academy, and enjoys playing games and watching soccer. He lives with family in Pittsburgh, PA.