Like many people, I use it like we used to use Google. Because Google (and most other search engines) suck now, thanks to all the SEO spam out there. My job requires me to be a “jack of all trades” (I am a duct taper with a bullshit job in David Graeber parlance). I have to cover myriad technical things. I usually know the high level way to do things, but I frequently need help with the specifics (rusty on the syntax, etc), so I use the free ChatGPT for that kind of thing. it’s been extremely helpful. I was also the first person to bring it to the attention of my boss ages ago when it first came onto the scene.
Rather predictably, my boss now acts like he discovered (borderline invented it) and is always nagging everyone to use it to get their work done faster.
AI has already put some people out of work and will continue to be disruptive. There will be a lot more layoffs coming, is my guess. And it doesn’t really matter if the AI is good or not. If the C-Suite thinks they can save money and get rid of “lazy workers” they will absolutely 100% do it. We’ve seen over and over again how customer service and product quality hardly even matter any more.
I appreciate your take on it: replace the useless middle manager whip-cracker types. Hopefully we see a lot of that…