AI is a multiplier

I once attended an interview sometime ago. I was given the change to ask the interviewers some questions. The first question I asked was; ‘AI has been here for 2 years now, how has it really impacted your workflows?’

The first reply he gave was that AI is a productivity tool. Productivity tools are nx multipliers.

Any number multiplied by zero is zero. Even if the number is infinity.

Now, we don’t know how many n multiplier is AI currently. Researchers are even suggesting that it is not up to 1 times (if you get the point).

It still has problems

AI came into software development at this point in my software journey where I was still figuring things out. It brought to me a lot of confusion and clarity as well.

After using AI for a while (GitHub Co-pilot for 2 years), I understood that, AI will always make a mistake at some point in the generation process. It is my ability to read through its generated code and fix its errors that matter.

Even all these need traditional software engineering skills. Still, traditional engineering skills take a lot of time, focus and energy to build.

Do I Vibe-Code?

I was really confused when vibe coding came out. What even confused me more was when Y-Combinator pushed the idea through some of its videos.

I’ve asked a couple of friends and course-mates on what they think about AI. Most actually think that vibe-coding is the new software development. I don’t usually argue.

It is a proven fact now, that vibe-coding is a new empty hype moat a lot of course bros are feeding a lot of people.

I don’t think that today’s LLM’s are good for vibe-coding, therefore, I don’t vibe code.

How do I personally get the best out of AI?

• I usually instruct it to explain errors and propose solutions rather than implementing it itself. It is very manual and time prone, but, it helps me really understand what I’m doing on the long run.
• AI is really good for actually understanding how software works and brainstorming implementation for certain features.

But,

My intention for AI is to spend some time building out complex agentic systems. I’ve been doing some “Research” around the concept.

I will ensure to document most of the insights around AI here.

I would also love to know how AI improves your productivity. Feel free to reach out on ezekielakinfenwa98@gmail.com.