Chat GPT and AI stuff

[Jeffrey]

Last week I was chatting with a coworker on Teams—someone sharp I’ve worked with for years. He asked if I was using one of the new VS Code agents with GitHub Copilot Chat. Turns out we’re using the same one.

He told me that six months ago he told one of the folks leading our AI efforts that if he had to choose between himself and AI for coding, he’d choose himself. Today, he says he’d pick the AI.

The pace of improvement over the last six months has been wild. I’m honestly starting to worry about my employability.

With the agent’s help, I produced a Python test script in about five minutes—modular, well-structured, and accurate based on what I provided (test-case steps and a manual test log). I still had to tweak and fix a few things, but the quality and speed were impressive.

(Note, I wrote a post, didn't like it all that much so fed my text to an AI and it spit out the paragraphs above - captured what I wanted to say but improved the grammar, flow, etc)

Absolutely great post, thanks!

 

[Kdogg]

Last week I was chatting with a coworker on Teams—someone sharp I’ve worked with for years. He asked if I was using one of the new VS Code agents with GitHub Copilot Chat. Turns out we’re using the same one.

He told me that six months ago he told one of the folks leading our AI efforts that if he had to choose between himself and AI for coding, he’d choose himself. Today, he says he’d pick the AI.

The pace of improvement over the last six months has been wild. I’m honestly starting to worry about my employability.

With the agent’s help, I produced a Python test script in about five minutes—modular, well-structured, and accurate based on what I provided (test-case steps and a manual test log). I still had to tweak and fix a few things, but the quality and speed were impressive.

(Note, I wrote a post, didn't like it all that much so fed my text to an AI and it spit out the paragraphs above - captured what I wanted to say but improved the grammar, flow, etc)

Serious question: Did it add the emoticons? I'm wondering if it picked that up from it's data set and is trying to mimic human text conversations.

 

[camion]

Serious question: Did it add the emoticons? I'm wondering if it picked that up from it's data set and is trying to mimic human text conversations.

I'm anticipating the day I will have my personal DBR AI. I'll nickname it IAI.

Train it, wind it up and let it go. Then I can wake up every morning and check what IAI posted overnight.
IAI will probably be more clever than I.

 

[mkirsh]

Last week I was chatting with a coworker on Teams—someone sharp I’ve worked with for years. He asked if I was using one of the new VS Code agents with GitHub Copilot Chat. Turns out we’re using the same one.

He told me that six months ago he told one of the folks leading our AI efforts that if he had to choose between himself and AI for coding, he’d choose himself. Today, he says he’d pick the AI.

The pace of improvement over the last six months has been wild. I’m honestly starting to worry about my employability.

With the agent’s help, I produced a Python test script in about five minutes—modular, well-structured, and accurate based on what I provided (test-case steps and a manual test log). I still had to tweak and fix a few things, but the quality and speed were impressive.

(Note, I wrote a post, didn't like it all that much so fed my text to an AI and it spit out the paragraphs above - captured what I wanted to say but improved the grammar, flow, etc)

The multi-billion dollar question for me is whether AI will replace jobs, leading to either increased corporate profits or passing on lower prices to consumers, or whether instead of AI replacing jobs it just massively increases throughput, so you can get deliver what used to take 12 months in one month, turbo charging innovation. With other technological advances in my lifetime (most notably the internet and desktop computing), while there have been some job displacements (ie fewer administrative support jobs typing letters and answering phones), the technologies have lead to faster throughput with unemployment remaining low. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I hope that is where an AI economy takes us rather than the alternative of mass unemployment.

 

[elvis14]

Serious question: Did it add the emoticons? I'm wondering if it picked that up from it's data set and is trying to mimic human text conversations.

Yes, it added the emoticons. Funny thing for me is that a different AI added them to my code recently. I was writing a simple script to check some data and log/print results. AI helped and put emoticons in my output. I left them there.

The multi-billion dollar question for me is whether AI will replace jobs, leading to either increased corporate profits or passing on lower prices to consumers, or whether instead of AI replacing jobs it just massively increases throughput, so you can get deliver what used to take 12 months in one month, turbo charging innovation. With other technological advances in my lifetime (most notably the internet and desktop computing), while there have been some job displacements (ie fewer administrative support jobs typing letters and answering phones), the technologies have lead to faster throughput with unemployment remaining low. Maybe it's wishful thinking but I hope that is where an AI economy takes us rather than the alternative of mass unemployment.

We have been having a lot of discussions at work about it and it seems like what they care most about is velocity. I don't feel like we have lost people to AI yet (my co-workers are software engineers, managers, program managers, etc). But we are all being pressured to use AI as much as possible. There seems to be an opinion that QA, in particular, will be taken over by AI or that AI can assist so much that anyone can do it (I'm a software engineer in test). Many of us feel like it's just a matter of time before they trade that velocity ask for people (slow down some but use fewer people). My job is changing and although we have some internal 'training' (as if a simple 1 hour presentation is actual training) the expectation is that I should leverage AI to learn what I need to learn.

 

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm in the process of closing down my computer shop and transitioning to being an artist full time. At least AI won't be able to do that job.

Oh, wait...

 

[elvis14]

I'm in the process of closing down my computer shop and transitioning to being an artist full time. At least AI won't be able to do that job.

Oh, wait...

Not that I'd call it real art but I was goofing around with Gemini on my phone one night and was feeding it images and having it make them into sketches or cartoons. Results were kinda fun. I also tried to describe a tattoo....that was a struggle the results were less than satisfying (how many times do I have to day the Duke University symbol that's a capital 'D' with a basketball and net in side the letter????? Argh!!!).

 

[duke2x]

ChatGPT et al. are completely useless for anything sports-related. Ex. Duke Baseball's 2024 trip to Omaha when they lost the first weekend.

Me: 2026 Duke lacrosse schedule? Answer: The 2 known opponents were wrong, Hop was playing Duke and MD on the same day, and no UNC game.
Me: Doesn't Duke play UNC next year? Answer: No, Duke and UNC do not play each other in lacrosse.

9F

 

[elvis14]

ChatGPT et al. are completely useless for anything sports-related. Ex. Duke Baseball's 2024 trip to Omaha when they lost the first weekend.

Me: 2026 Duke lacrosse schedule? Answer: The 2 known opponents were wrong, Hop was playing Duke and MD on the same day, and no UNC game.
Me: Doesn't Duke play UNC next year? Answer: No, Duke and UNC do not play each other in lacrosse.

9F

Interesting. Gemini told me the 2026 schedule has not yet been released. When I went to goduke.com it has the 2025 but not the 2026 schedule. Then I asked your ambiguous: Does Duke Play UNC next year? (I put Does instead of Doesn't). To paraphrase it told me that I could be certain that they would play each other but that neither team has released a schedule.

ChatGTP told me that it could not locate a publicly posted complete schedule....
So I asked the next question and it told me that the teams haven't released their schedule, they played each other twice in 2025 and that it's extremely likely they will meet in 2026.

Not sure what happened to you but for me it was 100% useful.

 

[duke2x]

It's definitely a work in progress. I can ask the same question and get two different answers depending on how I start the search. I had no other searches to clutter the chat when I did that one. I also asked for sources at the same time as the search.

 

[Ggallagher]

I thought this was funny. It turns out AI can't tell time.

Well, actually if you ask what time it is, you'll get a correct answer. But AI programs struggle with interpreting the images of an analog clock. It's not something they've been able to learn yet. I read a detailed article on the subject in a technical journal link - which I can't find now. But here's the answer you get from AI overview if you Google the question.

"AI programs struggle to read analog clocks and calendars because they require spatial reasoning and mathematical logic, not just pattern recognition. Unlike humans who learn from a young age, AI models are trained on data and lack consistent rule-based reasoning for tasks like interpreting the position of clock hands or performing date calculations. This gap in visual-spatial and logical processing is highlighted by recent studies showing that even advanced AI models can fail at these seemingly simple tasks. "

 

[duke2x]

I tried again. GT and Wake don't have teams, and FSU doesn't have a men's team. All we know are UVM and JU in February at this point. Most of the dates are mid-week games as opposed to weekends. This is just wrong, FYI.

"Duke Men's Lacrosse 2026 Schedule
Duke University's men's lacrosse team has an exciting schedule planned for the 2026 season. Here's a detailed look at their matches:
Date Opponent Location Notes
February 4 Denver Home Season opener
February 11 High Point Away Non-conference
February 18 Syracuse Home ACC matchup
February 25 Villanova Away Non-conference
March 4 North Carolina Home ACC rivalry
March 11 Boston University Away Non-conference
March 18 Virginia Home ACC matchup
March 25 Maryland Away Key rivalry
April 1 Georgia Tech Home ACC matchup
April 8 Notre Dame Away ACC matchup
April 15 Florida State Home ACC matchup
April 22 Wake Forest Away ACC matchup
April 29 Regular season finale TBD Senior Day"

 

[Skydog]

I tried again. GT and Wake don't have teams, and FSU doesn't have a men's team. All we know are UVM and JU in February at this point. Most of the dates are mid-week games as opposed to weekends. This is just wrong, FYI.

"Duke Men's Lacrosse 2026 Schedule
Duke University's men's lacrosse team has an exciting schedule planned for the 2026 season. Here's a detailed look at their matches:
Date Opponent Location Notes
February 4 Denver Home Season opener
February 11 High Point Away Non-conference
February 18 Syracuse Home ACC matchup
February 25 Villanova Away Non-conference
March 4 North Carolina Home ACC rivalry
March 11 Boston University Away Non-conference
March 18 Virginia Home ACC matchup
March 25 Maryland Away Key rivalry
April 1 Georgia Tech Home ACC matchup
April 8 Notre Dame Away ACC matchup
April 15 Florida State Home ACC matchup
April 22 Wake Forest Away ACC matchup
April 29 Regular season finale TBD Senior Day"

Perplexity AI has consistently outperformed ChatGPT for me. I gave it your question and here is its response. It seems to be much more helpful and accurate:

“Duke University has not yet released the official 2026 men’s lacrosse schedule as of November 2025. The latest public updates from Duke mention that more ticket and schedule information for the 2026 season will be available in January, with no game dates or opponents currently listed on their athletics website or major sports schedule outlets.[goduke.evenue +1]
Where to Find Future Updates
• Duke’s official athletics website is expected to post the 2026 lacrosse schedule once it becomes available, typically around January before the season opens.[goduke +1]
• Checking back on the “Men’s Lacrosse” section of the Duke site or following their official social media channels are the best ways to stay updated when the new schedule is posted.[goduke]
Current Status
• No detailed 2026 regular season game dates, opponents, or venues have been announced as of this moment.[goduke.evenue +1]
• Only the 2025 schedule and results, as well as the 2026 roster, are publicly available at this time.[goduke +1]
For the most accurate information as soon as it is released, refer periodically to Duke’s official lacrosse page.”

 

[Jeffrey]

I'm in the process of closing down my computer shop and transitioning to being an artist full time. At least AI won't be able to do that job.

Oh, wait...

Billy Strings went postal when he learned one of his NYE posters/t-shirts was AI. Billy apologized repeatedly to his fans and gave the “artist” hell online. There will never be another Billy Strings AI work of “art”!

My wife actually bought the t-shirt and was going to throw it away when she found out. I asked for it because I believe it may one day be a collector’s item.

 

[Kdogg]

Billy Strings went postal when he learned one of his NYE posters/t-shirts was AI. Billy apologized repeatedly to his fans and gave the “artist” hell online. There will never be another Billy Strings AI work of “art”!

My wife actually bought the t-shirt and was going to throw it away when she found out. I asked for it because I believe it may one day be a collector’s item.

Old concert merch is an “alternative” investment even if it’s created by a human artist. That market can get wild. I don’t think they proved it either way. The artist went dark last I heard (a fan not an established artist) so I just that closed the case. As AI gets better it’s going to be harder and harder to spot the difference. Some of the videos now are magnitudes better than just six months ago.

 

[duke2x]

Perplexity AI has consistently outperformed ChatGPT for me. I gave it your question and here is its response. It seems to be much more helpful and accurate:

I think the issue is AI doesn't synthesize stuff from other websites well. It's better than a Google search, but you still have to do the work yourself.

It still writes at a 8th grade level for creative writing prompts. I asked it to write a short story (max 4 pages since it stops at 1000 words) where Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Godot were waiting for Santa Claus and to consider the endings of each play when writing the plot. I ended up with Godot lecturing Santa straight from the Cliff Notes/Spark Notes.

 

[CameronBornAndBred]

I ended up with Godot lecturing Santa straight from the Cliff Notes/Spark Notes.

Godot gets a lump of coal.

 

[Jeffrey]

The artist went dark last I heard (a fan not an established artist) so I just that closed the case.

I’m seeing 28 Billy shows in 2025 and all of us Goats know each other (we’re family!). That cat don’t come around here no more. AI is not art in our world. We only support real artists!

 

[dlmzzz]

Last week I was chatting with a coworker on Teams—someone sharp I’ve worked with for years. He asked if I was using one of the new VS Code agents with GitHub Copilot Chat. Turns out we’re using the same one.

He told me that six months ago he told one of the folks leading our AI efforts that if he had to choose between himself and AI for coding, he’d choose himself. Today, he says he’d pick the AI.

The pace of improvement over the last six months has been wild. I’m honestly starting to worry about my employability.

With the agent’s help, I produced a Python test script in about five minutes—modular, well-structured, and accurate based on what I provided (test-case steps and a manual test log). I still had to tweak and fix a few things, but the quality and speed were impressive.

(Note, I wrote a post, didn't like it all that much so fed my text to an AI and it spit out the paragraphs above - captured what I wanted to say but improved the grammar, flow, etc)

Have you tried Cursor or Claude Code? Some of the people on my team are using those with amazing results. They were IT experts before, but not actually software developers. After teaching each other to use the tools well, they are building impressive applications. Apps that would have taken a team of experienced developers to build before, and would have taken longer.

 

[elvis14]

Have you tried Cursor or Claude Code? Some of the people on my team are using those with amazing results. They were IT experts before, but not actually software developers. After teaching each other to use the tools well, they are building impressive applications. Apps that would have taken a team of experienced developers to build before, and would have taken longer.

We use github copilot and copilot chat with VSCode. The Agent I'm currently using is Claude Sonnet 4.5 and I would have to agree with the 'amazing results'. I don't see 'Cursor' as an option (basically a drop down menu where you choose your agent). Note, I have so much to learn about these agents. I can tell you what I'm using but I have a lot to learn about differentiating between the different agents.

I actually have 2 versions of VSCode, when I have time I'll have to give them different agents and see how they handle the same queries.