thoughts on ai usage

i have been thinking a lot recently during one of my usual spirals but ive had some thoughts that may be worth writing down.

ive never been a vibecoder or even close, coding has always been a passion for me since i was little. i have been really looking into exploring more fields and learning things i havent been able to do before as of recent, like minecraft modding and really expanding my web-dev knowledge.

ai has been helpful (?) for that in some forms. you can ask it to help you get started then work on your own from that, or send it code you want to mixin and it'll provide you the right mixin headers as a starting block.

but i feel guilty!!. theres so much stigma around ai everywhere and all its horrible impacts that i observe even in the coding space. it feels almost wrong or dirty to be using something like this even if im not the one using it problematically. it makes me feel dumber, like im dependent on it to get started on what i want to do, even though im not a brainless numbnut.

so ive decided i might start blocking most, if not all, ai usage for myself going forward. ive never paid for ai so theres no money concern, its more just for myself. i want to feel better and also get better at what i love. i want to be proud of what i make again, without feeling in the back of my mind that it isnt really mine.

just for clarification, barely any of my projects (especially bleh) have any ai at all. if so, it’d literally just be a tiny bit that ive probably mangled so much its unrecognisable or was used as a helping hand when im stuck. additionally, ive never used ai to design anything because thats like my favourite part i love designing sm.

ai has its uses, it can genuinely help u optimise code in a way u wouldnt have been able to at the time. if you are able to grasp it, learn it, maintain it, then write code like that yourself in the future, then there really isnt a problem. for me, its more of a personal thing i feel i want to change.