tanvi's digital journal

I work in tech, so all I’ve been hearing for the last two years is ‘AI.’ Even if you don’t work in tech, you would have probably heard of AI unless you’re living under a rock. There is an overabundance of opinions, predictions, courses, and information in general surrounding AI online, and frankly I’m kind of sick of it. Every other post is AI this or AI that.

But as zillions of others have said before — AI is here to stay. There’s no point trying to change the inevitability of change. I’ve gone from being fearful and resistant towards AI, to accepting it and to some degree, being amazed by it. I have already seen significant changes in my day-to-day work as a tech writer since ChatGPT shook the world in early 2023, and this is just the beginning.

Outside or work, too, I’ve been using GenAI pretty frequently, particularly for the following tasks:

1) Research

I don’t know if Google search is dead yet, but I’ve drifted away from it. Previously, whenever I needed any kind of information, searching for it on Google would be a reflex action. But now, I’ve seamlessly shifted to using GenAI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot. Responses to any kind of query are much more powerful as they’re personalized and context-relevant.

Also, I enjoy the whole back and forth of prompting and getting answers. I’ve realized that I enjoy prompt engineering, because effective prompts are all about good writing. I sometimes write prompts, not to get answers, but to practice how to write.

2) Learning

“Chat, generate a 6-week learning plan for me to become skilled at API documentation.”

“Tell me what Python concepts are important for technical writers and give me free resources from where I can learn and practice those concepts.”

“Give me an intermediate level Python quiz, along with some basic coding questions, to assess my proficiency particularly with dictionaries, list comprehension, and error handling.”

“Chat, give me an English literature learning roadmap that is equivalent to a Masters degree.”

You will find prompts like these in my ChatGPT history.

Even before ChatGPT, I would usually find information on any topic on the internet after a little hunting. But now, the access to good quality resources is at another level. You can learn almost anything you want, which is honestly so exciting.

3) Reviewing and Editing

I’ve avoided using AI for writing or editing-related tasks, but that’s slowly changing. I’m not very comfortable with delegating entire posts or documents to AI to be generated from scratch. Both personally and at work, I still work on the first drafts, no matter how much time they take or how sketchy they may be. I enjoy the friction of writing and the satisfaction that follows.

However, I’ve kind of warmed up to AI’s respectable editing capabilities. Whenever there’s a sentence or paragraph that sounds off and I can’t figure out what to change, I ask ChatGPT to review it and give me a better one. It sometimes takes two or three prompts for me to be fully satisfied with a response (because I have to ask it match a certain style or tone), but overall, it does a good job.

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I’m still an AI-newbie, and I’m aware that I’ve not even scraped the surface of fully grasping what AI can do. I don’t know what the future looks like. I’ve read posts ranging from extreme optimism to complete doomsday predictions with AI taking over the world, so I’m not sure how to exactly feel. Right now, I’m trying to adopt the “ride on the wave and hope for the best” mindset, but let’s see.