AI is an Intern
I'm loving AI. It's been a great productivity boost as I use it for all sorts of things. My biggest use cases:
- Simple Web Apps
- Dinner Planning
- Research
- Meeting Notes
- Project Coordination
Though these are my biggest use cases, they aren't my only use cases. Since AI is so general, it can really be used for anything. Of course, your experience may vary. There are two things I try and keep in mind when using AI.
The Gell-Mann amnesia effect is a cognitive bias describing the tendency of individuals to critically assess media reports in a domain they are knowledgeable about, yet continue to trust reporting in other areas despite recognizing similar potential inaccuracies.
There's a boat load of stuff I don't know about. And a few things I do know about. It's important to use AI not only for the things you don't know about, but also what you do know about. By using AI with things I know, I can better appreciate any mistakes it makes and try and keep that in mind when I am using AI to research things I don't know about.
- AI is an Intern
AI is basically the worlds greatest intern, at lease as of September 2025. I've used it to build simple web apps that any CS undergraduate could make. However, once you start adding more features or upping the complexity, it begins to suffer. I think this is very much how an intern would behave.
Not just coding though; I've used AI to come up with a Stir Fry recipe. Indeed, it came up with a stir fry recipe that I cooked for my family? Was it bad? Not at all. Was it good? Absolutely not. The flavors were muted, semi-bland, and overall forgettable. I imagine it's what an intern would make.
This post is not to knock down interns. An intern is really just someone beginning their journey toward expertise. But that's how I feel about the current state of AI.